The XI International Congress of Sciences Applied to Sports Medicine (CIENMEDE 2024), recently held in the resort of Varadero, experienced transcendental moments of extensive discussions, debates and socialization related to such an important sphere.
One of the special moments of the event also turned out to be the awarding of the honorary category of Researcher of Merit, awarded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), to Doctor of Science Luis Gustavo González Carballido, for the contributions provided. by this scientist to the development, scope and successes of Cuban sport.
In this way, Dr. Luis Gustavo and Francisco García Ucha are the only two experts who hold this high distinction in the country.
Granma will contact the honored professor, who shared his thoughts on the role of the island’s sports psychology in high competition.
— Doctor, why is sports psychology talked about more and more frequently?
— Since the second half of the last 20th century, this applied science developed significantly in the sports world. Therefore, Cuba, persevering with the goal of remaining among the elite of global sports, cultivates and bets on applied sciences, including sports psychology.
This research area emerged in the 60s and 70s of the last century in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Luis Gustavo, without having the status of founder, along with other colleagues such as Leonel Rusell, was part of a large group of professionals who entered the Cuban sports movement, specifically in the Institute of Sports Medicine (IMD) in 1974.
Sports psychology is a very necessary tool for athletes and coaching groups, due to the need that contemporary athletes have to reconcile a high level of excitement and do so in a context that requires or exceeds the adaptive resources they have. The athlete.
— In this context, how do you evaluate the health of this science today?
— I consider it very good, on the rise. Every day the sports psychologist is heard more in technical groups, such as the (Inder) Technical Advisory Group itself.
In fact, the Sports Section of the Cuban Society of Psychology expands its projections among technicians, managers and managers, so that the results of its studies and the recommendations derived from them influence as scientific compasses in the design of elaborate training plans. by sports teachers.
In the curriculum of Luis Gustavo González Carballido, an excellent record of services can be seen, in the work of psychological preparation it transcends, by providing help to high-performance athletes in different disciplines, in exalted exponents such as Javier Sotomayor and others in Wrestling and Shooting. , with whom he worked for 18 years.
These attributes have allowed him to receive 15 decorations, obtain numerous awards, write three texts and dozens of scientific articles, in addition to teaching in the postgraduate modality.
He also has several investigations to his credit in the emotional field and in the personality of the athlete.
