Sports Psychology THOUGHT STOPPING Assignment

This is an assignment, NOT an Essay! Do NOT distort the handout!!!

As the book discussed, one way to cope with negative thoughts is to stop them before they harm performance, specifically by concentrating on the undesired thought briefly and then using a cue to stop the thought and clear your mind.

This activity gives you some practice in this technique—thought stopping. Thought stopping should help improve self-talk.

Reprinted, by permission, from American Coaching Effectiveness Program, 1987, Sport psychology, level two (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics), 113-114.

Instructions   (choose something realistic for a female!!)

1. Select a sport or exercise activity situation (e.g., making a shot over the water in golf, getting up early in the morning to exercise) in which you typically find yourself thinking negatively.

2. Complete your responses to the following statements to identify the specific nature of your negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts.Answer each under each letter, do not distort this handout.

Thought-Stopping Process

a. Describe the situation as completely as possible.

b. Identify the negative self-statements you make in this particular situation.

c. Specify a term or cue that you will use as a signal to stop your negative thoughts.

d. List four realistic, positive, and constructive self-statements that you can use to replace the negative thoughts.