Members of this year’s Sport Psychology class (PSYC 280) shared their newly acquired knowledge about mental game skills with local athletes as part of a class project. After learning key sport psychology skills during the first part of the course, students divided into groups, selected a sport, developed a teaching plan, and taught these skills to groups of high school athletes.
The Ashland University students worked with the following teams: Ashland High School Softball, Ashland High School Girls Track, Hillsdale High School JV Baseball, Hillsdale High School Track (Both Boys & Girls), and the Cleveland Volleyball Company 17’s & 18’s National Teams.
Dr. Curt Ickes, Associate Professor of Psychology, said, “This type of project is simply a great opportunity for psychology students to experience how psychological principles can be applied in real-world settings. The young athletes benefit by learning mental game skills to help them improve athletic performance. Once again, I had an outstanding group of students who worked with a great group of enthusiastic coaches.”
Several students reflected on their experiences.
“Completing fieldwork this semester for sports psychology was an enlightening experience. I thought it was a great way to apply our knowledge and skills in a ‘real world’ setting. The best part was how
influential the message was for the athletes. I could tell they were retaining the information that we were giving them; so eager and willing to apply it to themselves, not only in their sport, but in
their everyday lives.” Paige Lentz
“Not only was the fieldwork experience beneficial to me as a student, I got to impact young athletes by teaching them skills that many were not familiar with. I was able to learn and teach at the same time and that truly is something special.” Malcolm Doepke
“I think one of the main things that I learned from this experience is that most athletes are open to the concept of sport psychology. They want to better their performance. It was obvious that the high schoolers that my group worked with thought it was really neat to hear from actual collegiate athletes- doing what they one day hope to do.” Madison Blyer
“This project was the absolute most valuable learning experience I took away from this class. It forced us to apply the theories and techniques we learned in class to a real-world scenario. The experience has honestly been one of the highlights of my semester. “ Jacob Dingus
