Psychological Skills Training in Sport Flashcards
Coping with Adversity
Jones (1995):
“. . . top level sport is characterized by a
demand to perform to optimum levels in
intense pressure situations, it is not
surprising that a fair proportion of the
consultant sport psychologist’s efforts are
devoted to enabling performers to better
cope with the stress and anxiety which often
accompanies their preparation and
performance.”
- a process of constantly changing cognitive and behavioural efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands or conflicts appraised as taxing or exceeding one’s resources” (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, pp.141)
Problem-focused coping:
Efforts to alter or manage the problem that is causing the stress for the individual concerned
(Examples: acclimatisation, information gathering, making pre-competition and
competition plans, goal-setting, time management, problem solving, increasing
effort, and self-talk)
Emotion-focused coping:
Regulating the emotional responses to the problem that causes stress for the individual
(Examples: meditation, relaxation, reappraisal, and self-blame)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Basic Principles
CBT can be seen as Cognitive Behavioural
Training by which athletes:
1. Practice techniques to become self-aware,
2. Recognise dysfunctional performance-
related behaviours (e.g. avoiding certain
anxiety provoking thoughts) and
3. Change these into functional behaviours
(e.g. visualise the game plan)
The CBT Process
- Assessing the athletes need
- Identifying the different types of
altered thinking - Identifying links between events,
thoughts, emotions and behaviour - Challenging the problem and
identifying a solution
Basic Psychological Skills
Basic Psychological Skills:
Self-talk
Imagery
Relaxation/Regulation
Goal-setting
Other Strategies & Techniques:
Self-Modelling
Music
Mindfulness
Hypnosis
Feedback
Perceptual Training
What is Self-Talk?
Hardy (2006):
‘Self Talk is verbalisations or
statements directed to the self
that are multidimensional and
dynamic and serve both
instructional and motivational
purposes’
Instructional:
- Cognitive Specific – assists in learning and executing specific skills (‘High elbow’ ‘smoothly’)
- Cognitive General – assists in learning game plans and strategies (‘push now’)
Motivational:
- Motivational Arousal – assists in psyching up, relaxation, and controlling arousal (‘Let’s go’ or ‘Stay Calm’)
- Motivational Mastery – relating to mental toughness, focus, confidence, and mental preparation (‘I can do it’)
- Motivational Drive – assists in keeping us on course to achieve goals; maintaining/increasing drive and effort levels (‘give it all’)
Cognitive Restructuring: Thought Stopping/Reframing
- Recognise -> STOP -> Replace
Potentially Debilitating Thought:
The whole nation expects me to win”
“I have to score this free-throw”
“Where is he? I want to hurt him”
“That was terrible, I’m useless”
“I feel butterflies, I must be nervous”
Facilitative Thought:
The whole nation are supporting me”
“I have scored many free-throws…
this is like any other”
“I want to win against him”
“The next time I will do better”
“I feel butterflies, I am excited”
What is Imagery?
IMAGERY:
Motor Imagery
Mental Imagery
Movement Imagery
MENTAL PREPARATION:
Mental Practice
Mental Rehearsal
Symbolic Rehearsal
Covert Practice
VISUALISATION
- Shearer, Bruton, Short & Roderique-Davies (2017):
Imagery is possibly the most cited intervention method in sport psychology literature, with a total of 245 academic papers in the last 5 years alone addressing this topic - Morris et al. (2005):
“The creation or re-creation of an experience generated from memorial information, involving quasi-sensorial, quasi-perceptual, and quasi-affective characteristics, that is under the volitional control of the imager, and which may occur in the absence of the real stimulus antecedents normally associated with the actual experience”
Imagery Use in Sport
WHERE? (location):
Practice and competition.
Mostly competition due to performance enhancement
WHEN? (time-frame):
Pre, during and post competition & practice
Mostly before comp and during practice
Recovering from injury
Visual -> See it happen
Kinaesthetic -> Feel it happen
Auditory -> Hear it happen
Olfactory -> Smell
Tactile -> Touch
Motivational-Specific (MS):
Imagery of specific goal orientated behaviours (e.g., winning an event)
Motivational General-Mastery (MG-M):
Imagery of effective coping and mastery of challenging situations (i.e., being confident)
Motivational General-Arousal (MG-A):
Imagery that represents feeling of relaxation, stress, arousal and anxiety (e.g., pre-comp)
Cognitive Specific (CS):
Imagery of specific sport skills (e.g., hockey penalty flicks)
Cognitive General (CG):
Imagery related to cognitive strategies/tactics in competition (e.g., full-court press)
Improves Performance
- Develops confidence and motivation
- Stress management/coping (arousal control, PPR)
- Facilitates learning/refinement of skills/techniques
- Greater attentional focus (concentration)
- Problem solving (technical and strategic)
- Increasing self-perception (competence)
- Rehabilitation from injury (healing imagery)
Relaxation/Regulation Strategies
- Optimal arousal has been identified as a characteristic of peak performance (Hardy et al., 1996)
Relaxation/regulation strategies generally
grouped into two forms (mind><body):
Mental: Mind to muscle
Physical: Muscle to mind
Matching Hypothesis
- Cognitive Anxiety -> Cognitive Regulation
Technique - Somatic Anxiety -> Somatic Regulation
Technique
Issues with Matching Hypothesis
- Too rigid & simplistic
- Limited empirical support
- Evidence of cross over effects
- Multi-modal strategies more effective
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
PMR is based on three assumptions:
1. Tension and relaxation distinguishable
2. Tension and relaxation mutually exclusive
3. Tension Cognitive Anxiety
Breathing Control
- Learn how to breath “correctly”
Goal-Setting
What is Goal-Setting?
Locke et al. (1981):
‘A goal is defined as what an individual is trying to accomplish; it is an objective or aim of an action’
- Outcome Goals - focus on outcomes of particular events and usually involve interpersonal comparisons
- Performance Goals - specify an end
product/outcome of performance achieved relatively independently of others (self-referenced)
Process Goals - specify the processes one will
engage in during performance
Common Problems in Goal Setting
- Convincing the individual to set goals
- Failing to set specific goals
- Setting too many goals too soon
- Failing to adjust goals
- Not recognising importance of individual differences (e.g., orientation)
- Not providing any follow up and evaluation
