Sport Psychology Interventions

Question 1

Psychological Skills Training or Mental Training

Answer 1

Refers to systematic and consistent practice of mental or psychological skills for the purpose of enhancing performance, increasing enjoyment, or achieving greater sport and physical activity satisfaction.

Question 2

Sport psychologist

Answer 2

The term “psychologist” is governed by state regulations. Use of the term without being licensed is illegal in most states. Licensure requires a PhD, postdoctoral experience, and passing of a national exam.

Studies how psychological factors influence sports, athletic performance, exercise, and physical activity.

Question 3

Mental skills coach

Answer 3

The term “sport psychology consultant” has been used broadly to refer to those practitioners who received their sport psychology training in physical education or exercise science departments. Some argues that even the term “psychology” is governed by state law and that the title “mental skills coach” is probably safer.

Question 4

Flow

Answer 4

A state in which people are so involved in activity that nothing else seems to matter.

*Skill of individual must meet challenge of situation

Question 5

Mental skills

Answer 5

-Mental skill tools can be taught and learned
-Learning of mental skill tools requires well- developed learning progressions and systematic practice repetitions

Question 6

Psychological Skills Training (3 phases)

Answer 6

1. Education phase: Athletes recognize the importance of mental skills and their impact on performance.
2. Acquisition phase: Athletes acquire various psychological skills and learn to employ them.
3. Practice phase: Athletes implement skills in practice and competition.

Question 7

Education phase: performance profiling

Answer 7

A method that allows athletes to understand what qualities are
needed to be successful in their sport.

Stage 1: Ranking and defining the most important qualities
Stage 2: Plotting your own performance profile
Stage 3: Generating action points
Stage 4: Identifying barriers

Question 8

Benefits of performance profiling

Answer 8

-Helps athletes identify the qualities associated with successful performances
-Helps athletes identify their strengths and weaknesses.
-Enhances an athlete’s motivation
-Allows athletes to monitor their own progress.
-Facilitates a discussion between the coach and athlete
-Helps athletes set action points

Question 9

Goal setting

Answer 9

-Goals direct attention, mobilize effort, foster persistence, and promote the development of new learning strategies.
-Goals enhance self-confidence and satisfaction.
-Team goal setting is effective for enhancing cohesion levels.

Question 10

3 Types of Goals

Answer 10

1. Performance goals: Goals that focus on improvement and attainment of personal performance standards.
2. Process goals: Goals that focus on specific behaviours in which athletes must engage
   throughout a performance.
3. Outcome goals: Goals that focus on social comparison and competitive results.

Question 11

SMART goal setting

Answer 11

Specific
Measurable
Adjustable
Realistic
Timely

Question 12

Imagery

Answer 12

-An experience that mimics real experience. It differs from dreams in that we are awake and conscious when we form an image.
-Incorporates sight, sound, smell, touch, and kinesthetic senses
-The more polysensory the image, the more real it becomes

Question 13

5 Functions of imagery (under 2 levels)

Answer 13

General level:
Motivational- 1) mastery, 2) arousal (images relating to physiological arousal and emotions)
Cognitive- 3) strategies (images of strategies/game plans/routines

Specific level:
Motivational- 4) goals
Cognitive- 5) skills

Question 14

Recommendations for using imagery

Answer 14

-Incorporate into daily routine
-Five minutes once or twice a day
-Systematic increase in difficulty
-Positive rather than negative
-Be in good mood
-Less-skilled athletes need encouragement
-All ages can benefit

Question 15

Self-talk

Answer 15

Verbalizations or statements that are:
-Addressed to the self, multidimensional in nature
-Have interpretive elements associated with the content of the self-statements
-Serve at least two functions:
1. Instructional
2. Motivational

Question 16

Instructional self-talk

Answer 16

The overt or covert speech that individuals use for skill development, skill execution, strategy development, and general performance improvement.

Question 17

Motivational self-talk

Answer 17

The overt or covert speech that individuals use for:
1) Mastery: building self confidence, staying focused being mentally ready
2) Arousal control: psyching up, relaxing
3) Drive: increasing effort, achieving potential

Question 18

Arousal regulation

Answer 18

-There is a relationship between arousal and performance.
-Athletes use a number of techniques to regulate their arousal levels:
1) To reduce arousal
2) To increase arousal

Question 19

Techniques to reduce arousal (5)

Answer 19

1. Breathing: Diaphragmatic breathing increases oxygen.
2. Progressive Relaxation: Involves tensing and relaxing specific muscles.
3. Meditation: Allows for deep relaxation of the mind.
4. Autogenic Training: Focuses on feelings associated with limbs and muscles.
5. Biofeedback: The use of feedback from own body signals to improve performance.

Question 20

Techniques to increase arousal

Answer 20

1. Pep talks
2. Bulletin boards
3. Pre-competitive workouts
4. Verbal cues
5. Breathing
6. Imagery
7. Music

Question 21

Attention and attention control

Answer 21

Attention: A multidimensional construct having at least two components:
1. A limited resource (i.e., difficult to perform two tasks simultaneously)
2. Selectively processes specific information while ignoring other information

*Poor performance often attributed to losses of concentration or becoming distracted

Question 22

Choking

Answer 22

-The phenomenon of “choking” occurs as physiological arousal continues to increase to the point of causing an involuntary narrowing of an individual’s focus and to the point of causing attention to become more internally focused.
-This results in alterations in perception (time is speed up) and movement execution which affects the individual’s timing and coordination

Question 23

Choking model

Answer 23

Situations leading to choking->

Attentional changes: narrowing of attention, internal focus of attention

Physiological changes: increases in muscle tension, increases in heart rate

*both lead to performance problems (e.g. rushing, disturbance to fine muscle coordination and timing, inability to focus, fatigue and muscle tightness)

Question 24

Focus strategies*

Answer 24

1. Mindfulness
2. Controlling distractions
3. Attentional cues and trigger
4. Parking distractions
5. Performance routines
6. Competition plans

Question 25

Mindfulness

Answer 25

-Emphasizes awareness and acceptance of internal and external states, and involves non-judgmental, present moment, and task-relevant awareness.
-Associated with improved athlete mental health, reduced athletic injury, and overall improved athletic performance.

Question 26

Controlling distractions

Answer 26

1. Factors in training and competitive environment
2. General living and environmental factors
3. Previous preparation factors
4. Relationships

*Take time to visualize/feel/anchor effective responses to past and future situational demands and distractions. See and feel yourself with the appropriate mental skills.

Question 27

Control (circle of control vs. concern)

Answer 27

-Circle of control: preparation, focus, mindset, arousal, sleep/recovery
-Circle of concern: referees, atmosphere, the other teams actions, coach’s decisions (when losing control, start to choke and worsen performance, worry about others and not yourself)

*all you can control is yourself and your own actions/mindset

Question 28

Parking distractions

Answer 28

Attentionaly setting aside distractions and narrowing focus on performance relevant cues.

Question 29

Parking

Answer 29

-Establish an appropriate parking image which has personal meaning and can be comfortably used.
-Spend time away from training rehearsing the images involved.
-Practice the skill in a relaxed state during training in order to develop a degree of competence and familiarity.
-Practice the skill in pressurized training situations
-Implement the skill in competition.

*“park” all other distractions by using a specific image to enhance focus and performance

Question 30

Performance routines

Answer 30

Top performers know exactly how to manage their time activities and personal space prior and during competition or performance to produce the right kind of feelings and focus.

*a lot of the game/match is actually spent preparing/recovering/thinking rather than playing
-Tennis example: non-playing time is 80-90% of total match time. Players’ patterns of thinking and acting between points plays significant factor
-Top competitors more disciplined, more precise patterns, less negative feelings and emotions

*specific routines/habits, whatever works for individual person