"Football is not a matter of life and death, it is more important than that."
The use of prayer in sport
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NJ Watson and DR Czech
The use of prayer in sport: Implications for psychology consulting athletic insight, NJ Watson and DR Czech, The Online journal of Sport Psychology, 2005 (7) Pp 26-35.
The authors refer to a “neglect of spiritual and religious issues in the sports psychology literature”. There is a good review of existing literature on prayer and spirituality as it applies to sport. They summarize their findings: this review has identified that athletes utilised religious prayer in sport for three main reasons: coping with uncertainties and concomitant anxiety, putting life and sport into perspective and providing meaning to sports participation and competition”.
The authors suggest that “when athletes have curtailed religious practices due to busy sporting schedules… sport psychology consultants should encourage athletes to renew religious practices”.
Noting the past research has shown that the use of prayer in coping with uncertainties in sport is significant for higher level athletes, they suggest that it would be useful to study the effectiveness of prayer in sport in novice and low level athletes. They also refer to the need for a sport psychology consultant to be aware of professional boundaries and to refer an athlete to a minister or team chaplain when they're dealing with serious difficulties in their religious life.
They further suggest that: “working collaboratively, sports psychology consultants and religious professionals could learn a great deal from one another in how best to support the religious athlete”.