With a second look at my research topic and your feedback about narrowing the scope, I am looking to research specifically tennis/individual sports. I want to focus on Novak Djokovic in the tennis world to better understand his mental process and the mental training that he goes through to become more successful. As well, the rituals/procedures he uses on court to quiet his mind and allow himself to compete at such high levels and how this correlates to his success as a tennis player.
Research questions:
- Does mental preparation and mental training such as meditation etc. help athletes such as Novak Djokovic in competition?
- Does Novak Djokovic’s training of his mind help him win matches and does this play a major role in his success as an athlete?
- What type of mental training does Novak Djokovic incorporate in his everyday life to help him become a better, more successful athlete?
Your audience:
My audience will be professional tennis players competing against Novak Djokovic as well as young aspiring tennis players whose dream it is to play professional tennis and looking for anything to give them an advantage over other players as well as college tennis players who are transitioning to the professional level.As well as other athletes in any sport or level that wish to improve their competition and well as their ability to relax and play to their potential.
Besides tennis players, scientists who study the mind would be interested in other ways in which the mind operates and how one can control that. As well as anyone who may struggle keeping their emotions under control in their everyday life.
The answer to “so what?”:
This research could help many people, from athletes who are aspiring to play at the highest level in any sport, to those trying to control their emotions in their daily lives. As well as scientists who are continually trying to better understand the mind, how it works, how it processes information and how individuals can control it. This could be very helpful in the study of the mind and to help people/us to better understand it, as well as to help us to use our minds to their full potential or at least further our grasp of the human mind and what it is capable of.
It’s possible that these questions (and I can’t believe I’m about to say this) are too narrow! I only say this because I’m not familiar with how much has been written, especially in academic sources, about this single player’s mental preparation and acuity. I think your third question is probably the right level of specificity, and I think you may wish to open that slightly to ask about today’s professional tennis athletes or something like that. In other words, you need to have a clear and specific focus (say, the top 100 professional players in the world) without getting so focused on a single player that the results can be generalized beyond that single player. I’m not suggesting that you go out and survey the top 100 players in the world (if they responded to your survey, that would be awesome), but I am thinking that you’re more likely to be able to glean information about several of the players on that list across medical and academic journals to be able to answer a research question about their mentality in games.
That said, if you can find adequate information in scholarship about Djokovic, then you’re welcome to pursue a single player approach. I just don’t believe adequate scholarship exists about his mental game.
Yeah, I agree there may be little information on specific athletes. I know he has written a couple books and a couple people have analyzed how he prepares mentally but I think you are right, I will change my questions to make sure I will be able to find enough info.