Sport psychology generally refers to the assessment of and interventions involving psychological aspects connected to sport, whether consulting with whole teams or counselling of individuals.
When athletes come to sport psychologists, they bring with them their entire worlds. Hannes therefore works from the assumption that sport psychology’s focus stretches beyond the confines of primarily sport performance and enhancement. Performance is a deeply personal matter, and working alongside athletes on improving their performance touches domains of their lives that extends beyond the core of their being.
Sport psychology informed counselling can assist athletes, teams, and coaches with building alternative solutions to help them deal with issues specific to sport and performance (e.g., injury rehabilitation, career termination, overtraining, motivation and skill acquisition, group dynamics, conflict resolution, travelling, death of a teammate) as well as non-sport-specific issues (e.g., attitudes, aggression, depression, stress and anxiety, eating disorders).
Therefore, improving performance may be an essential manifest goal of sport psychology work, but the well-being, health, and happiness of athletes are the foundations of why Hannes enjoys working with athletes from a variety of sporting codes, whether competing at a professional level or still deemed a novice.
Specific areas that Hannes can provide his sport psychologist specific services may include the following:
• individual and group processes in sport
• motor skill acquisition and performance
• motivational issues in sport and exercise
• psychological factors in adoption and maintenance of exercise behaviour
• sport, exercise, and mental health
• professional practice in sport and exercise psychology.