psychological skills training can you learn this stuff?
TRANSCRIPT
Psychological Skills Training
Can you learn this stuff?
The Need
Seconds pour away. Agony. Elvis Grbac screams to his teammates. They scream back. The crowd screams louder. Static rushes through Grbac’s helmet. It is fourth down. Two yards to go. Seconds pour away.
(Elvis Grbac’s baptism of fire vs. the Denver Broncos, 1998)
The Situation
Kansas City trails Denver by 4 pointsFourth down and 2 yard to go for a first down34 seconds left in the gameBall on Denver’s 20 yard lineNo time-outs remainingSpeaker in helmet not working (can’t hear the play from the sidelines)
The Result
Grbac calls his own play
Goes for a pass into the endzone
Receiver is double-covered and the pass is batted down
Kansas City loses
What Should He Have Done?
?
The Answer is . . .
Pull out your cell phone and call Dr. Lidstone!!!!
Psychological Skills Training
Psychological interventions and programs are effective in enhancing athletic performance
The Evidence
Almost all professional tennis players say they use some form of psychological strategy to enhance performanceHigher ranked players use them moreSuccessful members of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team trained together more, enjoyed crowd support, enjoyed family and friend support, adhered to mental preparation plans, and enjoyed high levels of attentional focus and commitment
Skills vs. Methods
Psychological Skills: Learned or innate characteristics of the athlete that make it possible or even likely that he or she will succeed in sport (e.g. intrinsic motivation, self-confidence, attentional control, arousal control, anxiety control)
Skills vs. Methods
Psychological Methods: Strategies, techniques or practices that lead to the development of psychological skills (e.g. goal setting, imagery, progressive relaxation, meditation, self-talk, hypnosis)
Measuring Psychological Skills
Psychological Skills Inventory for Sports (PSIS-5) – Mahoney et. al (1987)
Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28) – Smith et. al (1995)
Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) – Thomas et. al (1999)
Psychological Skills Inventory for Sports
45 item inventoryMeasures anxiety control, concentration, confidence, mental preparation, motivation, and team orientationHas demonstrated the ability to discriminate among different levels of skilled performers
Athletic Coping Skills Inventory
28-item inventory
Coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, goal setting/mental preparation, concentration, freedom from worry, confidence and achievement motivation, coachability
Modest predictor of hitting and pitching performance among professional baseball players
Test of Performance Stragegies
64-item inventoryMeasures a combination of skills and methods in 2 strategic situations
1. Competitive situation: Self-talk, emotional control, automaticity, goal setting, imagery, activation, negative thinking, relaxation
2. Practice situation: Self-talk, emotional control, automaticity, goal setting, imagery, activation, attentional control, relaxation
Format of a Psychological Skills Training Program (PSTP)
Phase 1: Who is the client?
Phase 2: Initial meeting with athlete(s)
Phase 3: Education of the sport psychologist relative to the activity
Phase 4: Development of a needs assessment plan
Format of a Psychological Skills Training Program (PSTP)
Phase 5: Determine psychological skills methods and strategies to be taught
Phase 6: Actual teaching and learning of selected psychological methods
Phase 7: On-going and end-of-season evaluation of PSTP
Enhancing Athletic Performance through Sport Psychology: A Case Study
Jim Lidstone, Ed.DGeorgia College & State University
Simon Earnshaw, M.Ed.Armstrong Atlantic State University
What is Sport Psychology?
Sport psychology is a science in which the principles of psychology are applied in a sport setting. These principles are often applied to enhance performance. However, the true sport psychologist is interested in much more than performance enhancement and sees sport as a vehicle for human enrichment.
Cox (1994)
Performance Enhancement vs. Human Enrichment
Performance Enhancement
Attention (concentration)
Anxiety
Arousal
Aggression/assertiveness
Team cohesion
Human Enrichment
Personality
Anxiety management
Arousal adjustment
Self-esteem
Self-confidence
Causal attribution
Leadership
Sport Psychology Intervention
Assessment
Diagnosis
Prescription
Intervention
Evaluation
The Four C’s
Consistency
Confidence
Concentration
Composure
Assessment
Interviews
- Coach
- Player(s)
Paper & Pencil Tests
- Personality Traits
- Emotional States
Observation
Paper & Pencil Instruments - Trait
Instrument Variable(s) Assessed
• Sport Orientation Questionnaire Competitiveness
Win Orientation
Goal Orientation
• Sport Competition Questionnaire Competitive Trait Anxiety
• Trait Sport Confidence Inventory Trait Sport Confidence
• Test of Attentional & Interpersonal Attentional Focus (6
Style subscales)
Paper & Pencil Instruments - State
Instrument Variable(s) Assessed
• Competitive State Anxiety Cognitive State Anxiety
Inventory - 2 Somatic State Anxiety
Self-Confidence
• State Sport Confidence Inventory State Sport Confidence
• Profile of Mood States Tension, Depression,
Anger, Vigor, Fatigue,
Confusion
Concentration
0
1
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BET OET BIT OIT NAR RED
PlayersIdeal
Concentration - Individual
0
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8
BET OET BIT OIT NAR RED
Player AIdeal
Pre-Competition Mood State
0
5
10
15
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25
Ten Dep Anger Vigor Fat Conf
PlayersIdeal50th %ile
POMS - Individual Assessment
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Ten Dep Anger Vigor Fat Conf
IdealPlayer APlayer B50th %ile
Composure
0
5
10
15
20
25
Comp A-Trait Cog A-State Som A-State
PlayersIdeal
Confidence
0
10
20
30
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90
SC-Trait SC-State
PlayersIdeal
Sport Orientation
0
10
20
30
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Comp Win Goal
PlayersIdeal
Conclusions from Assessment
Higher than normal anxietyLower than normal self-confidenceSelf-handicapping behaviorsNo peer leadershipNegative attitude of coaches
Intervention Strategies
Coaches agreed to be more positivePlayers engaged in goal settingPlayers agreed to adhere to team rulesCoaches communicated more with playersCoaches set lineup in advance of meetsPlayers accepted lineup and roles within the teamPlayers targeted for confidence, concentration and/or composure training
Concluding Comments
“The project has helped me to modify my coaching style somewhat. I tend to be a little “hard-core” and expect the players to always show up ready to run through walls if necessary. This attitude is not prevalent among the players and so other coaching techniques are required for them to achieve their potentials. They require more motivation, patience, and positive feedback rather than being challenged or confronted. As a coach, I need to remain more optimistic, complimentary and supportive toward the players. The extra work on their mental games should help them respond in a more positive manner which has already begun to show with their pre-season conditioning program.”
The End
Sometimes it works