For many Americans, the strongest emotions are often displayed surrounding sports. From joyful leaps and high-fives to crazed yelling and tears of disappointment, athletes, fans, and coaches can’t hide from the emotional demands of sport.
In a Psychology Today blog, Mitch Abrams, author of Anger Management in Sport: Understanding and Controlling Violence in Athletes, discusses the expectations and reactions of society to emotional outbursts from professional athletes; the controversy surrounding the television show, Friday Night Tykes, and the responsibilities of coaches and parents as role models.
Mitch Abrams, PsyD, is a clinician administrator for University Correctional HealthCare/UMDNJ, where he is responsible for the delivery of mental health services for 6 of the state’s 13 state prisons. Dr. Abrams co-coordinates the forensic track of UMDNJ’s predoctoral psychology internship and has been involved with several aspects of advancing the quality of mental health services in prison systems. He is a clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and has held adjunct faculty positions at Brooklyn College, C.W. Post, and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Since 2000, he has been in private practice providing sport, clinical, and forensic psychology services.
Dr. Abrams began consulting with athletes in 1997 while developing the only comprehensive anger management program for athletes. He has created a niche in using anger management training to assist athletes in reaching peak performance on the field and in life. He has consulted with thousands of athletes and has developed programs for athletic organizations at the youth sport, high school, and college levels. He is the founder and president of Learned Excellence for Athletes, a sport psychology consulting company located in Fords, New Jersey.
