In week two of my senior project, I focused on anchoring, a sport psychology technique used by athletes. One of my essential questions is about what goes into the psychology of sports and I think I have done an effective job of answering this question. By learning about a different psychological skill each week and applying it to my own extreme sport (dirt biking) I have not only been able to test it for myself, but also critique it and find out what helps me the most.
One challenge I’ve had is a variety of riding spots. In my area, there is a lot of terrain, but a lot of it is the same type of terrain. I’d like to eventually travel to another area and explore something completely different. Another challenge that I’ve had is with my other essential question about documenting extreme sports. Currently, I am only using a gopro attached to my helmet, and iphone for pictures. I just bought two new gopro setups. One attaches to the chest which will be helpful for watersports, and the other attaches to handlebars and spins 360 degrees so I will now be able to put the camera on myself instead of the terrain ahead.
I have learned a lot of things about my essential questions. First, there are a ton of different ways to approach sports psychology. I think the most important thing is to figure out which ones help the athlete most. Second, I have had to be creative with the ways I document extreme sports since I mostly do it alone.
What other extreme sports are you covering? Just because you ride a dirt bike doesn’t make it extreme, right? Extreme depends, I imagine, on your willingness to put yourself in jeopardy. I wonder what are the psychological particulars at play with people who do this? What types of questions are you asking people you interview? How are you documenting these interviews? I hope you’re recording them so you can play excerpts during your senior presentation.