Sports Psychology Applied to Surfing:
How to paddle your own wave: psychological tools to be a champion in and out of the sea
SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO SURFING
How to paddle your own wave: psychological tools to be a champion in and out of the sea
Dante nieri
Lima Peru. Spanish Academic Editorial (EAE), 2012
Fortunately, the Psychology of Sport and Physical Exercise has developed widely in the US and Europe in a considerable way both at a literary level, where there are more and more books and manuals on Sports Psychology and at an applied level, also appearing more written on the knowledge and experiences acquired from sports psychologists in their fields of action.
This book by Dante Nieri, Latin American author, whose region is growing exponentially in Sports and Physical Exercise Psychology, and specifically from Peru; which has captured all his professional, academic and personal baggage on a minority sport known superficially as Surfing.
The author has divided this book into six distinct parts with their respective chapters.
Part I: Explanation of the origin of Surfing, rules of the different competitions and results of Peruvian and world Surfing. Introduction of Sports Psychology applied to Surfing, where he defines what it is, what it is for, who is in charge of applying this discipline and the role that he must lead for good professional practice.
In this chapter I am struck by the historical data on the use of the board in the sea as a means of survival in pre-Columbian times in Peru when generally the idea of the emergence of Surfing in Hawaii is had. Also in this chapter, the high professionalism of the author is denoted since he categorizes in a very rigorous way how a sports psychologist should be.
Más información sobre este texto de origenPara obtener más información sobre la traducción, se necesita el texto de origen
Jonatan Lozano Nogales
362 Ibero-American Journal of Exercise and Sports Psychology. Vol.7, no 2 (2012) Part II: Basic mental skills that any athlete should develop in general, such as Motivation, Relaxation. Attention / Concentration and Visualization.
Explaining each one, its fundamentals and giving tools adapted from each one of them so that the surfer or another sports psychologist can apply them. Here stands out the perfect adaptation of the basic psychological skills to the sport of Surfing where the athlete can integrate them in a simple and clear way.
Part III: Mental strength, emphasizing its importance in sport and specifically in Surfing. Classifying and developing it in four constructs that are Self-esteem, Fun, Emotional Control, Perseverance. Each one related to surfing and presenting examples, templates and exercises to be able to apply it.
Part IV: Fears in Surfing. Specific part where he details the surfer’s main fears.
Part V: Psychology properly applied to competition. In which he specifies the internal and environment variables that he must handle for a successful competition. Giving the necessary tools for each variable.
Part VI: It is a chapter on cases, in which the author describes the work carried out with athletes from the world of Surfing, and analyzes two of the most outstanding surfers in recent years and different interviews of referents in this sport highlighting the importance of the work mental and psychological surfing.
The book ends with some final recommendations, referring to the athlete himself, advising the most appropriate type of training, the lifestyle that a professional surfer should lead, relating to his environment of enjoyment and work, the sea, in addition to advising on Doping , and legal and illegal substances that affect the performance and health of the athlete.
It is a book where any reader, regardless of their knowledge and experiences in Surfing or in Sports Psychology, can follow and get a very complete and global vision of the world of Surfing, of Sports Psychology, specifically applied to Surfing, and the most characteristic of the personality, lifestyle and culture of a surfer. Since in each chapter there are references, comments,
Self-analysis of the main world references of this sport, providing the athlete with a greater integration of the knowledge received by feeling identified with their own teammates and personal references. It is also a book that can be consulted for people interested in other sports, as well as psychologists and people specialized in other sports sciences, even for people outside the sport and who want to achieve success in any field. Since it is not only a book on the psychology of surfing, it is a book on the psychology of life, on how to detect, and develop all the potential and capacities that human beings have.
Jonatan Lozano Nogales
Official College of Psychologists of Catalonia