Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology for Baseball Athlete Shaun Murphy

Sport And Exercise Psychology 1
APPLIED SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY
By (Student’s Name)
Professor’s Name
College
Course
Date

Sport And Exercise Psychology 2
INTRODUCTION
Shaun Murphy is an Indian athlete of the age of 25 years. Murphy plays baseball and has
been playing the sport professionally for four years now. Murphy has an upcoming world
championship in London and will be playing full time. The tournament is scheduled for the first
of March, and therefore Murphy has 8weeks to train fully.
He trains every day but says that he needs more training to be ready for the
championships. Murphy does not have any personal responsibilities and is fully available for the
training. The only personal demand given by Murphy was that the training programme is carried
out every morning from 5 as he is an early riser. After consulting with Murphy, we came up with
the following results:
Consultation sheet
Name of client: Shaun Murphy
Sport: Baseball
Explain any past experience you have of psychological skills training
I have done psychological training before as it was recommended to me by my coach. My
coach says I do not have a lot of concentration and therefore I did this so that I could concentrate
more when I was playing. I have done mental rehearsal programmes as well as a lot of self-talk.
Other than that I mostly do physical training.
However I can say that the time I did mental rehearsal my performance in the field really
improved. My concentration was better as compared to other seasons when I played and
therefore I was able to perform better.
Explain your involvement in sport and any important competitions or events
coming up.

Sport And Exercise Psychology 3
I have played in two world championships and this year will be my third one. We won
both of the previous world championships but in the second one I had a minor arm injury but it
has already healed through physical therapy.
I also play in local championship games all over the country and currently I have a three
year contract with the Blues.
ACSI
After undergoing the consultation with Murphy, I was able to identify the following
strengths and weaknesses based on the Athlete Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI).
Strengths
Coachability
Murphy works well with a coach as he likes having insight from another person. His
coach also helps him focus by ensuring that he is on time and that he is doing his training every
day (Christensen and Smith 2016). In other words, his coach is his guidance as he prepares
everything from the timetable to the training sessions and gym sessions.
Murphy works well with instructions, and that is why he requires a coach as he is able to
follow suit what he is told. He listens to correction from his coach and acts on it as soon as
possible. He is also very appreciative of his coach and the guidance that he provides.
Coping with adversity
Murphy easily learns from his mistakes and does not let them put him down. During a
game when he fails, he does a lot of self-talk to motivate himself and the coach also chips in to
help him. The coach also plays a massive role in Murphy staying positive by assuring him that
everything is going to be alright.

Sport And Exercise Psychology 4
Murphy has learned to stay positive during competitions when they are not winning, and
also he is able to remain calm in stressful situations (Keilani et al. 2016). After a bad game, he is
able to learn from it and puts in more effort in training so that in the next competition, his team
will win.
Confidence and achievement motivation
Murphy is very confident in playing baseball and is highly motivated as well. He never
misses any training session and he says he's coach can attest to that. Even on days when he is
sick he still wants to train. When he is not good at something, he works twice as hard to ensure
that he perfects it. For example, when his coach is teaching him a new skill, he ensures that he
has learned it. His confidence also shows in his games, and he says he always tries to remain
positive during games (Ericsson et al. 2018).
Goal setting and mental preparation
Murphy has short-term goals that he wants to accomplish. For instance, his short-term
goal as of now is to win the upcoming World Championships that are happening in London. He
is also mentally prepared for it as he has made a schedule with the help of his coach, of the
training sessions.
His mental preparation also involves him coming up with a game plan of how he is going
to perform during the competition. He has thoroughly analyzed the teams that he is going to
compete with during the championships (Gano-Overway, Steele, Boyce and Whaley 2017).
With this, he has been able to come up with strategies that he can use to increase his performance
and beat his competitors. He is therefore mentally prepared for the game.