A Psychological skills training or the PST refers to the systematized way of training the mental skills that are involved in the enhancement of the performance of a certain player in the concerned area of sports. The psychological factors directly affect the daily fluctuations that take place in the performance of the concerned sportsperson (Weinberg and Gould 2014). The psychological skills are often neglected by the concerned people due to various reasons like the lack of the knowledge in the concerned fields, the lack of the time on the part of the concerned person and the misunderstandings that surround the concept of the various psychological skills. There exist certain notions that the psychological skills are inherent in a concerned person and cannot be acquired over the knowledge that is imparted to the concerned athletes. The PST involves certain myths that have been maintained by the various members who have been into the athletic activities. The various myths state that the PST is required by the athletes who belong to the elite classes or might have been facing certain problems in the concerned field of athletics. The other myths that have surrounded the concept of PST helps in providing the solutions that might prove to be temporary in the concerned case. The myths further suggest that the psychological skills training might not be useful to the concerned athletes.
However, there are researchers that might suggest otherwise. In the given case study, the concerned athlete, Sally, is observed to have been suffering from the loss of confidence since she has returned to the sport of swimming after her recovery from a shoulder injury. The swimmer is known to be one of the high achievers in any field that she sets her mind to. The swimmer is known to be of the international standards and might help the GB team to attain several accolades. The coach of Sally has been noticing the apprehension in her behavior prior to any competitions that she has been participating (Butler and Hardy 1992). He has also noticed an increase in the anxiety levels of Sally. The coach has also noticed a decline in the performance levels of Sally since her return after the injury. The coach had advised her to consult a sports psychologist regarding the issues that she had been facing. The swimmer had been asked to identify the key mental and the physical characteristics that should be demonstrated by an elite open water swimmer. She was asked to rate her perceived importance of each of the factors as well as her current self-perception on each of the qualities that she had identified. The discrepancies in the concerned matter was calculated in order to facilitate an identification of the areas wherein the athlete depicted weakness. Sally had been facing major issues while participating in her swimming activities. The swimmer was asked to undertake a performance profiling, an activity that helps in the identification of the swimmer’s own perception of her strengths and weaknesses. The results of the performance profiling revealed that the swimmer had been facing issues with the concentration on the concerned sport activity, the lack of self-confidence in matters related to her performance in the swimming activities, her composer before the commencement of the race. She had also been facing the issues regarding the huge amount of anxiety that she had been facing before the commencement of the concerned race. The swimmer was also asked to go through a psychological assessment that helps the psychologists to determine correctly the levels of the anxiety that the athlete had been facing (Butler and Hardy, 1992). The results of the CSAI-II reveal that Sally had been suffering from a huge lack of confidence and is observed to be losing control over the levels of anxiety that she has been facing before the event starts. Sally has been reporting the fact that the she is not being able to concentrate on the concerned race due to the fluctuations in her composure before the concerned race.
The major areas wherein the swimmer depicted the highest amounts of weakness are the areas pertaining to the concentration of the athlete, the confidence of the athlete and the control of the athlete over the anxiety before the commencement of the race. Sally had also been facing issues with the matters pertaining to her composure before the commencement of any competition wherein she has been participating (Martens, Vealey and Burton 1990). The following essay deals with the major issues that are predominant in the given case of Sally with respect to her performance in the field of swimming. The essay attempts to draw on the cognitive and the somatic anxieties that the swimmer, Sally has been facing since her return to the sport after the recovery from her shoulder injury. The essay further proceeds to employ the needed psychological intervention program that might help the improvement of the situation that has been troubling the swimmer.
There are two models that might be used in order employ the psychological training. These two models include the three phases of the PST programs and the five-stage model of self-regulation (Keynes 2015). The psychological skills training or the PST might assume various forms in order to attend to the individual needs of the concerned athletes. The PST programs generally follow a structure that involves three distinct steps or phases. These phases generally refer to the education phase, the acquisition phase and the practice phase.
The initial phase of the PST program tends to be educational for the concerned sportsperson due to the fact that the sportsperson generally tends to be ignorant about the ways in which the mental skills might enhance the performance of the concerned athlete. During the tenure of this phase, the participants tend to acquire knowledge on the importance of the acquisition of the psychological skills and the ways in which these skills might affect the performance of the concerned participants of the PST program (Stenling, Hassmén and Holmström 2014). During the education phase, the athletes or the sportspersons are often asked about the time that they spend in the development of the mental skills that are needed for the concerned sport as compared to the physical skills that they practice. The most common answer received from the concerned participants tend to be negative responses. The athletes are then informed and provided with the necessary information on the ways as to how these skills might be acquired by the concerned participants (Turner and Barker 2013). The phase of educating the participants might tend to last over the time period that might stretch over an hour or might even last for days. The trainer during these sessions tend to put forth the importance of the development of the various psychological skills and their relation to the performance of the concerned athlete.
The next phase in this model of psychological skills training is the acquisition phase. The acquisition phase of the PST model tends to lay more focus on the various techniques and strategies that are needed for gaining knowledge on the varied number of psychological skills. This phase employs various techniques according to the skills that need to be acquired by the concerned sportsperson (Ivarsson, Johnson and Podlog 2013). The sportsperson who has been having issues with the development of the arousal regulation skills might be subjected to the various formal meetings that might be asked to attend the formal meetings that are arranged to lay more stress on the replacement of the negative self-evaluating statements with the various positive statements that might encourage the sportsperson and provide him with the mechanisms to cope up with the situation (Hazell, Cotterill and Hill 2014). The negative self-statements arise due to the huge amounts of stress that the athletes might face due to the highly competitive situations that they might need to face on a daily basis. In this phase the psychological skills trainer must resort to tailoring the strategies according to the needs and the demands of the problem that the concerned athlete has been experiencing. This phase requires the trainer to design the various activities in a manner that the issues of the concerned athlete is addressed in the most effective manner (Berking et al. 2013). The trainer should advise the concerned athlete not to worry about incurring failure before the commencement of the sport or the concerned athletic activity in cases wherein the concerned sportsperson has been suffering from cognitive anxiety due to some past mishappenings (Knudson 2013). The athlete who has been suffering from the somatic anxiety due to the increase in the muscle tension might be assigned a relaxation technique that might help the concerned athlete to relax physically.
The third phase in this model is known as the practice phase. This particular phase has three major objectives. The first objective in this case is the automation of the skills acquired by the process of overlearning. The second objective aimed at in this phase is imparting the knowledge to the athletes regarding the ways in which they might systematically integrate the acquired psychological skills into the situations that they might incur during their performances in the actual sports arenas (Malouin, Jackson and Richards 2013). The third major objective of this phase is to enable the simulation of the skills that the concerned athletes might like to apply in the various scenarios that they would face in the respective field of sports.
The other model that is often put to use in the activity of the psychological skills training is the five-stage model of the self-regulation. The final aim of the psychological skills training is to enable the concerned athlete or sportsperson to take decisions and function in an effective manner without the need to seek assistance from the coach or the sport psychologist in the concerned matter. The end result of the PST is to enable the concerned athletes to regulate their internal functioning in the desired manner by successfully adapting to the change that take place in the world around the concerned athlete. The self-regulation of the concerned athlete refers to the ability to advance towards the various short and the long-term goals that are set in order to effectively manage and monitor the behaviors, thoughts and the feelings of the concerned athlete (Mottaghi, Atarodi and Rohani 2013). The five-stage model of self-regulation, developed by Dan Kirschenbaum states that there are five different stages that needs to be followed by the athlete in order to establish the effective functioning without reaching out to their coaches for the assistance in the matters pertaining to the concerned sport to which they are attached (Keynes 2015).
The initial stage of the five-step models of self-regulation deals with the identification of the problem that the concerned athlete has been facing. The athlete should be able to identify the problem that he or she has been facing in the given scenario. According to Kirschenbaum, during the initial stages of this behavioral model the concerned athlete should be able to determine the change that is desirable and possible in the concerned situation. The athlete should be able to identify the exact problem that he or she has been facing. The next stage in this model suggests that the concerned athlete should make a commitment towards bringing about the required change in the situation by dealing with the matters that pose as the barriers like the requirement of the regular practice of the various mental skills and the slowing down of the progress of the concerned athlete (McCrory, Cobley and Marchant 2013). The third stage of the five-stage model deals with the execution. This step is the primary step towards the solution of the concerned problem that the athlete has been incurring. This step requires the self-evaluation and the self-monitoring of the concerned athlete on matters that pertain to the situation that the athlete has been facing. These steps are followed by the development of the appropriate expectancies and the self-reinforcement of the ways to attain the expectancies during the learning process of the effective coping up from the problematic condition that they have been facing. The environmental management forms the fourth stage of Kirschenbaum’s five step model. This stage helps the concerned athlete to make plans and derive the strategies that are essential for the management of the physical and the social environment that surrounds the concerned athlete. The fifth and the final stage in the five-stage model of Kirschenbaum is known as the generalization stage. This stage helps in the sustenance of the efforts made by the concerned athlete over time. This stage in the five-step process might also deal with the extension of the acquired behaviors in all the situations that create anxiety in the concerned athlete, irrespective of the changes in the settings and the conditions that are faced by the concerned athlete (McCormick, Meijen and Marcora 2015). The concerned athlete is expected to deal with the various challenges that he faces by drawing on the skills that he or she might have acquired through the process of the self-regulation.
In the given case, Sally should be advised to follow the three-phases model of the PST programs. Sally had suffered from a shoulder injury that had stopped her from attending to the swimming sessions. Her coach had been observing a drop in her performance since her return to the sport and had asked her to take help from a sports psychologist. The swimmer had been suffering from the various cognitive and somatic anxieties due to her injury. The best possible psychological interventions that might help the concerned athlete are the theories pertaining to the goal setting, the positive self-talks and the social support from the people who are concerned with the well-being of the concerned athlete.
Sally might be advised to undergo a performance profiling in order to correctly identify the source of the problem that she has been facing. The swimmer might be advised by the concerned psychologist to set shorter goals for herself during the initial days of the recovery. This might help her to regain the self-confidence that is needed by her in order to reach the perfection levels that she had previously owned. The swimmer is also suggested to set for herself the long-term goals that might help her to keep a track of her progress during the tenure. There are studies that state that the setting of the performance goals by the concerned athlete all by himself or herself tends to affect the progress of the performance in a positive manner (Mabweazara, Andrews and Leach 2014). The athlete in this case, Sally, might find the setting of the self-performance goals to be beneficial in the process of the coping up with the shoulder injury that she had incurred. The concerned swimmer is advised to include the activity of the regular exercising in her daily routine in order to bring about a boost in the low self-confidence that she had been facing after her return to the sport after the recovery from the shoulder injury. The studies suggest that the depression symptoms tend to render the concerned athlete to be less active in the various exercises and might also lower their self-efficacy rates that might result in deterring the recovery process (Sarkar and Fletcher 2014). The swimmer in this case should be advised to include the various exercises into her daily routine of self-performance which might help her to regain the self confidence that she might have lost due to the low performance since her injury.
The swimmer is further advised to engage herself in the self-talk that might help her to cope up with the injury that she had sustained. The self-talk might help the concerned athlete to overcome the mental conditions that she had been suffering from due to the injury (Balk et al. 2013). Sally has been observed to comment on the fact that she had been anxious about hurting herself again or losing the competition due to the injury that she had developed. These anxieties seem to pose as a hindrance to the achievement of the earlier levels of the performance that Sally had displayed. The studies suggest that the athletes and the other players are quite prone to the development of the negative thoughts within their ownselves after incurring any physical injury (Weinberg and Gould 2014). The experts on the matter suggest that the positivity in the self-talk might help the concerned athletes to recover better and faster from the lowly feeling that they might experience after the recovery from the physical injury that they might have been facing (Moran 2016). These self-talks might help the concerned athlete to eradicate the negativity in the thoughts that the concerned athlete might be facing.
The researches have established the fact that the concerned athlete who has been recovering from the physical injury needs the constant support from the people who have been close to her and are her well-wishers (Gill, Williams and Reifsteck 2017). In the concerned case of Sally, the swimmer needs the constant support and encouragement from her coach as well as from the sports psychologist that she has been visiting on the advice of the coach. The recovery of the concerned swimmer could be hastened with the motivational comments from her coach and the psychologist that depicts their belief and the trust on her abilities to perform well. The swimmer could also be helped by the patience on the part of her fellow swimmers who are advised to pay heed to the concerns that she has been facing without being judgmental on the concerned topic (Hanton, Neil and Evans 2013). The experts in the field claim that the social support received by the concerned athlete helps in the faster recovery of the concerned athlete.
Thus, from the above discussion it might be concluded that the swimmer, Sally has been facing the various cognitive and the somatic anxieties due to the injuries that she had been facing due to the injury on her shoulder. The above discussed psychological intervention methods might help the concerned swimmer to display an increase in her performance at the various swimming events that might take place in the future. The swimmer is advised to make a self-commitment towards the completion of the realistic goals that she had set for herself to achieve. The swimmer might expect a speedy recovery from both the short-term and the long-term goals that she had set for herself. These goals might help to keep her focused in the commitment towards the sport that she needs to depict in order to regain the levels of the performance that she had displayed prior to her injury. The coach and the sports psychologist might help the concerned swimmer to bring about the changes in the behavioral patterns that she has been depicting after the recovery from the shoulder injury that she had faced. The swimmer might benefit from the behavioral sessions that the trainer might advise her. The positive self-talks might benefit the swimmer by helping her to boost her own self-confidence and help her to regain her performance levels in the events. These self-talks might also prove to be beneficial to the swimmer as these tend to build the confidence that she has been lacking in these fields. The swimmer in this case, Sally is also advised to set the goals that she needs to achieve all by herself in order to achieve them within the timeline that she has set for myself. The achievement of these self-set goals might also help the athlete to display her ability of performing well in the concerned sport and thus help the athlete to regain the lost confidence. These techniques might also help the concerned swimmer to deal with the various cognitive and the somatic anxieties that she had been facing after her return to the sport after the recovery from the shoulder injury. The swimmer might also benefit from the support that she receives from the other members who have been present in the swimming club wherein she had been practicing for the various events. The swimmer might benefit from the support that she receives from her coach, the concerned sports psychologist and her fellow swimmers who have been a part of the same club.
References
Balk, Y.A., Adriaanse, M.A., De Ridder, D.T. and Evers, C., 2013. Coping under pressure: Employing emotion regulation strategies to enhance performance under pressure. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 35(4), pp.408-418.
Berking, M., Ebert, D., Cuijpers, P. and Hofmann, S.G., 2013. Emotion regulation skills training enhances the efficacy of inpatient cognitive behavioral therapy for major depressive disorder: a randomized controlled trial. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 82(4), pp.234-245.
Butler, R.J. and Hardy, L., 1992. The performance profile: Theory and application. The Sport Psychologist, 6(3), pp.253-264.
Gill, D., Williams, L. and Reifsteck, E., 2017. Psychological dynamics of sport and exercise. Human Kinetics.
Hanton, S., Neil, R. and Evans, L., 2013. Hardiness and anxiety interpretation: An investigation into coping usage and effectiveness. European Journal of Sport Science, 13(1), pp.96-104.
Hazell, J., Cotterill, S.T. and Hill, D.M., 2014. An exploration of pre-performance routines, self-efficacy, anxiety and performance in semi-professional soccer. European journal of sport science, 14(6), pp.603-610.
Ivarsson, A., Johnson, U. and Podlog, L., 2013. Psychological predictors of injury occurrence: a prospective investigation of professional Swedish soccer players. Journal of sport rehabilitation, 22(1), pp.19-26.
Keynes, M. 2015. Sport and exercise psychology. 2nd ed. Hampshire: The Open University.
Knudson, D.V., 2013. Qualitative diagnosis of human movement: improving performance in sport and exercise. Human kinetics.
Mabweazara, S.Z., Andrews, B.S. and Leach, L.L., 2014. Changes in state anxiety prior to competition: sport and exercise psychology. African Journal for Physical Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 20(Issue-21), pp.492-499.
Malouin, F., Jackson, P.L. and Richards, C.L., 2013. Towards the integration of mental practice in rehabilitation programs. A critical review. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, p.576.
Martens, R., Vealey, R.S. and Burton, D., 1990. Competitive anxiety in sport. Human kinetics.
McCormick, A., Meijen, C. and Marcora, S., 2015. Psychological determinants of whole-body endurance performance. Sports Medicine, 45(7), pp.997-1015.
McCrory, P., Cobley, S. and Marchant, P., 2013. The effect of psychological skills training (PST) on self-regulation behavior, self-efficacy, and psychological skill use in military pilot-trainees. Military Psychology, 25(2), pp.136-147.
Moran, A.P., 2016. The psychology of concentration in sport performers: A cognitive analysis. Psychology Press.
Mottaghi, M., Atarodi, A. and Rohani, Z., 2013. The relationship between coaches’ and athletes’ competitive anxiety, and their performance. Iranian journal of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, 7(2), p.68.
Sarkar, M. and Fletcher, D., 2014. Psychological resilience in sport performers: a review of stressors and protective factors. Journal of sports sciences, 32(15), pp.1419-1434.
Stenling, A., Hassmén, P. and Holmström, S., 2014. Implicit beliefs of ability, approach-avoidance goals and cognitive anxiety among team sport athletes. European journal of sport science, 14(7), pp.720-729.
Turner, M. and Barker, J.B., 2013. Examining the efficacy of rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on irrational beliefs and anxiety in elite youth cricketers. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 25(1), pp.131-147.
Weinberg, R.S. and Gould, D., 2014. Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 6E. Human Kinetics.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download