ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of pertinent psychological factors which could influence performance and provide recommendations to prevent such factors impacting testing outcomes. It identifies some of the psychological issues relating to assessment of sport performance. Within the assessment of sport performance, it is important to ensure consistency between trials to ensure validity and reliability of measures. Strategies to increase activation are colloquially referred to as psyching up, with many athletes engaging with such activities to improve performance. In identifying important psychological strategies research indicates that certified strength and conditioning coaches consider motivation and confidence amongst the most important psychological factors governing performance, further signifying the importance of such variables for physical performance within strength and conditioning. Indeed many studies are guided by the applied model of imagery in which imagery serves a number of functions to influence skill learning, cognitions and activation.
