Week 3

This is the Acquisition phase; 
music in sport is effective due to the fact that psychologically the music reflects how you are feeling, your mood, emotion, attitudes and behaviour. The psychological effects of music involve sensory responses to psychologically process it. The music can have an affect on the heart and respiration rate, and can delay fatigue or increasing work capacity. 

During week 3 I discussed music taste with athlete A. We listened to a variety of music genres; indie, rock, pop, R&B and Jazz. This gave the athlete an idea of the different types of genres and what music they were associated with. After we wrote a list of athlete A's favourite music with the genres next to the song, we took songs from the athletes spotify account. Overall the athlete liked pop and R&B music the most. This was important as it gave me a rough idea of what the athlete liked.

We discussed how the athlete felt before a race, I did this by asking athlete A a list of questions: 

1. Before a race how do you feel?

Athlete A: I feel nervous and anxious wanting my race to start so that it can be over and done with and I don't have to wait around any longer.

2. What do you do before the race to calm your nerves?

Athlete A: Nothing I warm up for a long period of time and try not to think about the race, I can't seem to take my mind of it to control my nerves prior to the race. 

After I had asked the athlete these questions it was important to discuss what type of music they would like to listen to before a race. The athlete decided that they wanted to listen to upbeat fast music to make them feel motivational and ready to race, they also said that this would act as a distraction from the race itself when warming up which could help with nerves. Many of the athletes songs on spotify were upbeat meaning they had a selection of songs to choose from.

This session took place at the athletes home where they felt comfortable, I felt it was easier for the athlete to answer the questions this is because they were in their own surroundings which makes people feel more at ease than if they were somewhere they are unfamiliar with. The session lasted an hour, this gave us time to have a thorough look through athlete A's songs and making sure that the music choice was right for them. I chose to do this activity because it's personal to the athlete and therefore makes them feel more interested. 

Using music in sport will benefit athlete A by motivating them before they race. It is important that the athlete is motivated in their sport in order to give them the confidence that they need to benefit themselves. Being motivated in sport means that they are willing to competed and confident in them self that they can succeed and compete to a high ability level. 

I showed athlete A a you-tube video on ' can music help motivation in sport?'. I decided to show them this in order to give an idea of how music can benefit a sports performer. This is necessary as it is important that the athlete believes music will help their sport in order for it to work. Negative thinking about music improving sport can have a bad impact on the way music in sport works. Next time I do this I will get the athlete to fill in a questionnaire whilst watching the you-tube video, this will consist of questions that relate to the video along with relating to the athlete. By doing this it ensures that the athlete is concentrating and relating the video to them self.