insight 1 Flashcards
Ontology
Captures our assumptions about how the (mental) world is made up and the nature of (mental) things
Epistemology
Attempts to describe our beliefs about how one might discover knowledge about the (mental) world
What is your experience with helping athletes develop mental toughness and resilience?
I have spent a lot of time focusing on both mental toughness and resilience. (In my opinion they are not too different but mental toughness may be broader, more future-oriented attribute than resilience whilst resilience places an emphasis on being a reactive adaptation to life stressors. However, both attributes are believed to reflect the thoughts, beliefs, and strategies an individual has when facing adverse life events and are crucial to the way they respond to those events). I investigated mental toughness during my undergraduate dissertation finding what parents knowledge of what mental toughness, whilst also investigating what challenging they’ve seen their child go through whilst being in an academy. These included not being able to show weakness, dealing with criticism and fear of the unknown. More recently focusing on resilience for my masters dissertation I conducted three workshops to develop resilience within netball players. 5/7 of the players significantly improved resilience whilst all athletes felt they had become more resilient.
How do you help athletes manage their emotions during competition?
To start with, all athletes are different so after building rapport, I’d have a discussion regarding how they feel at different stages of competitions. This could be reflecting on performance that have gone really well or competitions that were more challenging for them. Sometimes this isn’t an easy task so it may be that we create a resource to help track emotions during performance. From this the athlete has a record sheet which can guide the conversation about how they were feeling at certain moments.. and the influence of this. From this it helps the athlete to develop awareness of happen what normally happens for performance, and working with a psychologist, creates an opportunity to adjust their view on these thoughts and emotions to a more healthy and functional view, so they enjoy the sport more, and subsequently improve performance. A direct method I have found to be particularly effective with athletes is Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy.
Describe a time when you had to motivate an athlete who was struggling with performance anxiety.
Often when I’ve worked with athletes, they haven’t described having anxiety. Commonly they describe a ‘moment’ or ‘a certain part’ of performance that they seem to struggle with which when then describe this, it has the common associations of anxiety (increased HR, lack of focus, stiffness, sweating). In these moments I try to explore what this anxiety looks like for them, when does this occur and how it affects them. Often to get more insights I ask the athletes to record their reaction to these anxiety provoking moments to understand these better, and to clearly identify when these arise so we know which parts of performance to target. Being aware of the areas where you struggle is a really important and often challenging first step, from their I can make an informed decision the approach to best support this athletes, whether challenging their thoughts or beliefs, investigating their environment or relaxation methods are likely to be the most effective for this individual
Explain the concept of flow state and how it can be used to improve athletic performance.
Flow state is often associated with peak performance. Flow state is the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. This psychological state is intrinsically rewarding where everything comes together an clicks into place even during extreme challenges. When an athlete is showing peak performance, they are highly likely to appear in flow, with many researchers believing flow states are the psychological process underlying peak performance. Awareness and action merge, goals are clear, total concentration on task, sense of being completely in control, loss of self-consciousness and often enjoyable. More recently there has been advancements in this area from the integrated model of Flow and Clutch states (Swann et al., 2017). This is where clutch is any performance increase that occurs under pressure, where it differs from flow in that they involve deliberate focus, heighted awareness of situational demands and intense efforts. So an example to demonstrate this is flow state is ‘letting it happen’ while clutch states occur by ‘making it happen’. Both states involve enjoyment, enhanced motivation, perceived control, altered perception of time complete absorption and confidence but individuals do not simultaneously experience both states.
The factors that are associated with facilitated that likelihood of flow involves having an appropriate focus, optimal mental and physical preparation, optimal motivation, optimal arousal, positive thoughts, positive emotions, confidence, positive feedback, good team play and interactions and optimal environmental and situational conditions. The factors that prevented flow were the exact opposite (e.g. having an inappropriate focus, lack of motivation or negative thoughts). Research also suggests athletes believe they can restore flow and can be facilitated by positive thinking, a task mindset, relaxing, clearing one’s mind and building confidence. Many psychological skills may enhance the likelihood of experiencing flow but it’s the psychologist job to identify which one is likely to work with the individual athlete
Think of a time when you were in a flow in sport. Remember what it was like to like to feel that way. Pay attention to the circumstances surrounding that performance, what were your goals and expectations going into that event, how were you coaches and teammates acting, did you notice the fans, the weather, the playing conditions. Alternatively, think about a time when you were not able to focus and could not get mentally into the game.
Are you familiar with any techniques for improving focus and concentration in athletes?
Concentration is the ability to selectively attend to appropriate cues. Lack of concentration is especially likely after mistakes, when stressed out, not sufficiently motivated or when over motivated.
Being aware of the type of concentration you are trying to target is important. External focus could involve physical and mental rehearsals of potential scenarios, whereas internal focus could be identifying positive and present attentional cues to form a part of a pre performance and performance routine to refocus.
How do you handle athletes who are resistant to psychological interventions?
There is a number of ways I would approach this situation. First of all sport psychology isn’t just about delivering interventions. Just listening to an athlete can be so beneficial as it gives them that space to have a reflection and become aware of what has been happening for them in their sport. From this it starts to create the rapport or introduces a nice Segway into further psychological support. Additionally, exploring why this athlete is resistant psychological interventions is important to discuss with them, as sometimes these can be resolved quickly. Finally, an important part of my practice is to be client led and flexible, so if this athlete is resistant to a certain approach, then I will work with this athlete to find an approach that suits them.
What strategies do you use to build trust with athletes so they feel comfortable discussing personal issues?
It so important to build rapport with athletes and this process shouldn’t be overlooked or rushed. Much of the effectiveness relies on the athlete buying in to whatever the approach is. Reemphasising confidentially is also important in this process to reassure them they can be honest with you. Further reminding that you are not involved in the selection process to being open here isn’t going to influence selection. Finally, the non-formal conversations are to important to facilitates this relationship. Being around the team and the training ground helps to break the barrier of any division between the psychologist and the rest of the team. Also if deemed appropriate, sharing information about themselves could be an effective tool to create that trust
How do you assess an athlete’s current level of motivation and commitment to training?
Multiple approaches should be taken to assess motivation and commitment. Formal and informal meetings with athletes gives an indication and could be discussed to where the athlete feels they currently are. As these are desirable in sport, a wider view should be used such as speaking to the coach and parents who get to see more of these athletes. Finally overt and covert observations (live and recorded) will help give you insights to what is being displayed and whether all the sources come to the same assessment
Describe a situation where you had to provide support to an athlete dealing with a career-ending injury.
Dealing with a career ending injury is never an easy situation. Within this listening to the athlete to see how they are currently dealing with this will influence your approach. Working on ways to change their perspective can be effective so experiences I have had which have been big injuries but not career defining have involved letting the athlete have space to explain and make clear how they are finding living with this injury, and just gently ask questions to create an opportunity for seeing things in a different perspective. Such as when an athlete was getting down about noticing new things they couldn’t do as time went on, see this actually as progress as they’re able to do more now to notice these new things. Acceptance and commitment therapy/ training could be implemented to aid this process, especially within career ending injuries
Do you have experience working with teams or individual athletes?
I have experience working with both individual athletes and teams. My role as Gifted Athlete Support Coordinator introduced me to 34 athletes in a range of different sports. From this I delivered group workshops which specialised in being relatable to athletes from all different sports. Further I have worked one on one with a range of athletes who reached out for additional psychological support who all had different needs and request. Working with teams I have delivered more focused workshops on an area which has been identified they have had challenges with, with working with teams that are performing really well and also some who were underperforming with low team cohesion
How do you approach setting goals with athletes and helping them stay motivated to achieve those goals?
Setting goals has to come from the athlete themselves. They know themselves, their sport and their desires so give them space and time to really identify what they want to achieve .. a lot of athletes don’t do this on their own. My job is to give them a space where they are able to create these goals and ask good questions to make the goal as effective as possible by making sure it is achievable and discussion how will they know if they achieve this goal. Also finding out what they can do in the short term is an effective approach for starting to work towards this goal, if the goal is long term. Finding an approach that works for the athlete to be reminded of this goal is important for motivation, whether it is written down in the changing room, part of a routine, or any other creative way the athlete decides on. The psychologist should have regular check in points with this athlete about the goal, for motivation and with the ability to adjust the goal accordingly
What strategies do you use to help athletes cope with stress and pressure from coaches, parents, and teammates?
I know that athletes face a range of stresses. My undergraduate dissertation started to explore the stresses that young athletes in an football academy, particularly focusing on the parents role within this process. That really highlighted that players need support from a whole range of people, psychologist, parents, coaches, teammates. A first step is insuring their environment is facilitating and removing any additional pressures that isn’t beneficial (eg an angry parent on the side of the pitch). Giving the athlete space to explain how they are feeling and identify areas which are particularly challenging for them, can then strategies can be discussed and put into place to control what is controllable. Some stresses are part of the game, and some stress can actual be beneficial, so discovering what is negatively impacting them is the first step
Explain the importance of nutrition and sleep in maintaining peak performance levels.
Both nutrition and sleep are vital for any kind of performance. It fuels your body and without this, doing anything is a challenge, let alone peak performance. High level teams and athletes need to tap into all these key preparation areas to yield the best possible results. This is just one of the reasons why finding out about the athlete outside of sport lifestyle is important in sport psychology and key variables such as diet and sleep could heavily influence the impact of any sport psychology work, alongside the importance of wellbeing.
