Week 1 - Intro to sport psych and psych training skills Flashcards
(14 cards)
INTRO TO SPORT PSYCH
-sport pysch…
- Explores the psychological factors that influence sport participation and performance (e.g., motivation, group dynamics)
- Explores theories and interventions that can be used to enhance sport performance, participation, and personal growth
- Enhancing well-being and performance
- Primary focus of sport psych is education, i.e., teaches athletes, coaches, about psychological skills and how to develop & implement them
INTRO TO SPORT PSYCH
-sport pysch… pt 2
- Important to distinguish that sport psychology is NOT clinical (i.e., it is not the same as clinical and counselling
psychology or psychiatry)
-While some practitioners may train and certify in clinical psych, this is in ADDITION to their sport psych
certification and is not the norm
-Implications for scope of practice and ethics - i.e., sport psych practitioners cannot treat mental illness if they are not trained to do so
ROLES OF THE SPORT PSYCH PRACTITIONER - Research Practitioner Model
- Consulting
- Research
Teaching
Consulting: Working with athletes and/or teams to develop psychological skills for enhancing performance
Research: Advance the field and contribute to knowledge that can be used for evidence informed
interventions
Teaching…courses like KNES 253!
Terminology
Sport psychology
Sport psychology practitioner
Certified mental performance consultant
- Sport psychology is referring to the field, which encompasses research, teaching, and consulting
- Sport psychology practitioner refers specifically to any individual conducting applied work consulting with athletes
- Certified mental performance consultant (CMPC) is a specific credential one can obtain through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and is the licensing body for consulting in North America
What is PST
- PST is for everyone and the goal is not to ‘fix’ but enhance
- PST is the consistent practice of psychological skills for enhanced performance - the role of the sport psych practitioner is to educate and facilitate
- make an athlete feel supported/enhances
A key tenet of psychological skills training (PST) is that it’s not a magic wand - just like we train physically for sport, we must do the same with mental skills
Intro to PST pt 2
- Strong influence from counselling theories
Cognitive-Behavioural approach to PST:
* To make change, we must DO something!
* We act our way into new thoughts, rather than thinking our way into new actions
Phases of Psychological skills training
Education:
Need assessment:
Acquisition:
Practise:
Education: What is PST, mental side on performance
etc
Needs Assessment: Strengths and weaknesses, areas for improvement, sport specific demands of group or individual
Acquisition: Learning the psychological skills
Practice: Using a skill until it becomes automatic
Key psychological skills
Key skills
Can lead to following outcomes…
- The ability to concentrate on the right things at the right time & manage distractions
- Relaxation techniques (e.g., breathing)
- Setting short- and long- term goals
- Visualization (also known as imagery)
- Self-talk
- Building an effective team culture
- Debriefing and reflection
- Self-awareness
- Emotional and arousal management (next week)
- Motivation
- Confidence
Considerations for PST
Relationship
Tailored to individual needs
Include coahces
- Strongest predictor of intervention success is the relationship between the athlete and the practitioner
- PST interventions should be tailored to individual needs - athletes need to work on different skills as well as have different approaches to working on skills. Meet them where at
- Include coaches in the process - supporting athlete, as well as working on their own skills
Characteristics of an effective SPP
- who is leading the program can be equally as important as the content
Based on this… individuals from varying populations will have
different needs:
- Establish trust and rapport
- Are knowledgeable and have something concrete to offer
- Conduct follow-ups throughout the season
- Adapt to specific needs of each athlete and tailor the intervention
⚬ Youth sport vs. High performance sport?
⚬ Working with diverse populations?
Formal options
- Group sessions
- individual sessions
Group Sessions: full team together for a presentation on a given mental skill
Individual Sessions: one-on-one consulting with the sport psych practitioner and athletes
Informal options
- unique to sport psychology consulting - you typically won’t find these in clinical counselling
-brief contact
- being embedded
Brief contact interventions: unplanned intervention, maximum 15-20min that focus on performance enhancement in the moment
- on field or chairlift etc
Being ‘embedded’ in a team & observation
⚬ Practitioner becomes part of athlete’s regular environment
⚬ Presence - relationship building
⚬ Ethical considerations
Continuous learning
- Continuous debriefing and reflection is critical for learning and behaviour change
- Sport psych practitioner can facilitate this process, with support from coach
- After debriefs, athlete should leave with clear understanding of how they are doing relative to goals, and what their next steps are
- Create plan, execute, debrief, revise… repeat
Discussion board
- D2L: Sport4Life’s mental fitness
for long term development is
linked
2.Choose:
a. (1) phase of the LTD model
b. (1) mental skill
3.Describe how you would tailor the
delivery of your chosen skill to an
athlete at that phase of the model
Phases of LTD model
- Active Start: 0-6 years old. Young children to rack up positive experiences within sport activity
- FUNdamentals: 6-8/9 years old. Kids have fun with their friends in a wide variety of enjoyable physical activities, sports, and games. Un vs Structured
- Learn to Train: 8/9-11/12. Foundational mental fitness concepts that complement their physical development and enhance their learning experience and self-awareness
- Train to Train: 11/12 - 15/16. emphasis on consolidating basic sport-specific skills and tactics. There is also an accelerated adaptation to aerobic, speed, and strength training.
- Train to Compete: 15/16-21/23. Advanced mental preparation strategies are incorporated, and focus on mental skills needed for competition and quality training increases
- Train to Win 18/19+. refining the mental skills more closely related
to performance outcomes and achieving personal performance bests - Active for Life: 12+. In this stage, athletes and participants enjoy lifelong involvement in a variety of competitive
and recreational settings.
