Chapter 11: Introduction to Psychological Skills Training

Chapter 11: Introduction to Psychological Skills Training C H A P T E R 11 Introduction to Psychological Skills Training

Session Outline • What is psychological skills training (PST) and why is it important? • Why are psychological skills neglected? • PST myths • PST knowledge base • PST effectiveness (continued)

Session Outline (continued) • Three phases of PST • Self-regulation • Who should implement PST programs, when, and for how long? • Designing a PST program • Common problems in implementing a PST program

Psychological Skills Training Psychological skills training (PST) refers to the systematic and consistent practice of mental or psychological skills for the purpose of enhancing performance, increasing enjoyment, or achieving greater self-satisfaction.

PST Program Facts • PST methods and techniques come from a variety of sources, mostly from mainstream psychology. • Guidelines have been developed to make PST more effective. • PST can have major effects on performance.

Mental Toughness • Mental toughness is an athlete’s ability to focus, rebound from failure, cope with pressure, and persist in the face of adversity. It is a form of mental resilience. • Mentally tough athletes have a high sense of self-belief and an unshakeable faith that they can control their own destiny. • They can remain relatively unaffected by competition or adversity. (continued)

Mental Toughness (continued) • The constructs of motivation, dealing with pressure, confidence, and concentration make up mental toughness (Jones et al., 2002). • These attributes of mental toughness were employed before (e.g., goal setting), during (e.g., coping with pressure), and after competition (e.g., handling failure).

Four C Model of Mental Toughness • Control is the capacity to feel and act as if one could exert an influence on the situation in question. • Commitment is a tendency to take an active role in events. • Challenge is the perception of change as an opportunity to grow and develop rather than a threat. • Confidence is the strong sense of self-belief.

Importance in Terms of Time Spent Training Psychological Skills • During the season, how long do you spend physically training for competition? • During the season, how long do you spend practicing psychological skills for competition? • How important do you think psychological (mental) skills are to your performance and success? (1 = not important; 10 = essential.) (continued)

Why Is PST Important? • Athletes feel that psychological factors primarily account for day-to-day fluctuations in performance. • Traditionally, athletes spend little time training and practicing psychological skills.

Why Are Psychological Skills Neglected? • Lack of knowledge and comfort with teaching mental skills • Misunderstandings about psychological skills (e.g., belief that they can’t be learned) • Lack of time

PST Myths • PST is for “problem” athletes only. • PST is for “elite” athletes only. • PST provides quick-fix solutions. • PST is not useful.

PST for Special Populations: Intellectual Disabilities • The development of trust and rapport is critical. • The consultant must work at the individual’s level of understanding. • Instructions should be kept simple, skills should be broken down into smaller teaching components, and sessions should be fun and enjoyable.

PST for Special Populations: Physical Disabilities • Soliciting help from relatives, case managers, or residential staff is important. • Ensure that venues are accessible. • If working with athletes in wheelchairs, communicate by being in their level (e.g., in a chair). (continued)

PST for Special Populations: Physical Disabilities (continued) • If the physical disability affects the control of muscles required for speech, be patient with verbal communication. Speak directly to the athlete even if a parent or other caretaker is present. • Be careful of the temperature of the room, since certain disabilities (e.g., spinal lesions) are negatively affected by certain temperatures.

Keys to Understanding PST • While PST is a proven technique, users must be realistic in their expectations. PST is neither a magical elixir nor useless bunk. • Psychological skills can be learned but must be practiced and integrated into a person’s daily routine.

PST Knowledge Base • Research on elite athletes shows that most successful athletes differ from less successful ones in the following ways: • They have higher confidence. • They have greater self-regulation of arousal. • They have better communication. • They have more positive thoughts and images. • They have more determination or commitment. (continued)

PST Knowledge Base (continued) • Athletes and coaches identified these as the most useful PST topics: • Arousal regulation • Imagery and mental preparation • Confidence building • Increased motivation and commitment (goal setting) • Attention or concentration • Self-talk • Mental plans • Imagery

PST Effectiveness • Educationally based psychological skills training enhances sport performance. • Intervention must be individualized, employed systematically over time, and multimodal (combining different psychological skills, such as imagery, self-talk, and goal setting).

Three Phases of PST • Educational phase • Psychological skills need to be taught and learned. Participants must recognize how important it is to acquire PST and how the skills affect performance. • Increasing awareness of mental skills • Green light = flow • Yellow light = caution or refocus • Red light = real trouble and need for major coping (continued)

Three Phases of PST (continued) • Acquisition phase • Focus on strategies and techniques • Tailor training programs to meet individual needs. • Provide general information to the group or team, but be specific when developing an individual’s PST program. • Psychological skills should be learned—and practiced. (continued)

Three Phases of PST (continued) • Practice phase • Learning psychological skills should progress from practices and simulations to actual competitions. • This phase focuses on automating skills through overlearning, integrating psychological skills, and simulating the skills you want to apply to actual competitions. • Log books help athletes chart progress and provide feedback for improvement. (continued)

Moving Psychological Skills Beyond Sport • A physical educator might use relaxation training toteach a hyperactive child to calm down. • A physical therapist or athletic trainer might use goal setting to maintain motivation for an individual out with a serious, prolonged injury. • A fitness instructor might use positive self-statement to enhance self-esteem in a client who is overweight.

Self-Regulation: The Ultimate Goal of PST • After psychological skills training, an athlete should be able to monitor and self-regulate his or her own emotional state. • Self-regulation is the ability to work toward one’s short- and long-term goals by effectively monitoring and managing one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Figure 11.1

Implementing PST Programs • Who should conduct PST (sport psychologist or coach)? • Both can do so as long as they recognize their limits. • Recognize potential conflicts of interest. • When should you implement PST? • In the off-season when there is more time (continued)

Implementing PST Programs (continued) • How long should training last? • 10 to 15 minutes a day, three to five days per week • When is the best time in one’s career to engage in mental training? • Mental training should continue throughout an athlete’s sport participation

Designing a PST Program • Discuss your approach. • Assess the athlete’s mental skills. • Determine which psychological skills to include. • Design a PST schedule. • Evaluate the program.

Discussing Your Approach • Identify services to be provided. • Explain the differences between educational and clinical sport psychology consultants. • Discuss your approach. • Build trust and a good relationship with the client.

Assessing Mental Skills • Assess strengths and weaknesses (either objectively or subjectively). • Use psychological assessment techniques (performance profiling, oral interviews, psychological inventories). • Consider the unique demands of the sport. • Obtain the perspectives of other parties involved (e.g., coaches, athlete trainers).

Which Skills to Include • Skills are qualities to be obtained (e.g., self-awareness, confidence). • Methods are procedures or techniques for developing psychological skills (e.g., arousal regulation, imagery, goal setting).

Vealey (2007) Mental Skills Model • Emphasizes that multiple types of mental skills are important for success and well-being in coaches and athletes: • Foundation skills: Intrapersonal resources that are the basic mental skills necessary for achieving success. • Performance skills: Mental abilities critical to the execution of skills during sport performance. (continued)

Vealey (2007) Mental Skills Model (continued) • Personal development skills: Mental skills that represent significant maturational markers of personal development allowing for high-level psychological functioning through clarity of self-concept, feelings of well-being, and a sense of relatedness to others. • Team skills: Collective qualities of the team that are instrumental to an effective team climate and overall team success.

Determining a Schedule • Hold frequent, shorter meetings rather than frequent, longer meetings. • Hold informal as well as formal meetings. • Whenever possible, begin PST before the season begins. • Systematically schedule PST as part of daily practice. (continued)

Determining a Schedule (continued) • Periodization refers to planned variation in key training variables, particularly volume and intensity, over predetermined training cycles. • Systematic periodization has been proposed as a method for training mental skills through the preparatory, competitive, and peaking phases.

Guiding Principles for Olympic Mental Training (McCann, 2008) 1. Mental training can’t replace physical training. 2. Physical training and physical ability are not enough to succeed consistently. 3. A strong mind may not win an Olympic medal, but a weak mind will lose you one. 4. Coaches frequently don’t know what their athletes are thinking. (continued)

Guiding Principles for Olympic Mental Training (McCann, 2008) (continued) 5. Thoughts affect behavior. Consistency of thinking = consistency of behavior. 6. Coaches have varying views of changing technical mistakes versus mental mistakes. 7. Coaches must be involved in the mental training process. 8. Sometimes it is OK to force athletes to take the time to do mental training. (continued)

Guiding Principles for Olympic Mental Training (McCann, 2008) (continued) 9. Like any other skill, mental skills need to be measured in order to maximize performance of these skills. 10. Coaches need to think about their own mental skills.

Evaluate the Program • Don’t overlook evaluation. • Trainers have an ethical obligation to evaluate a program’s effectiveness. • Use interview, written assessments, and objective performance measures to evaluate.

Figure 11.2

Effective Sport Psychology Consultants • Effective consultants • Are accessible and could establish rapport with athletes • Are flexible and knowledgeable enough to meet the needs of individual athletes • Are likeable and have something very concrete or practical to offer • Conduct several follow-up sessions with athletes throughout the season • Are trustworthy and able to fit in with the team

Ineffective Sport Psychology Consultants • Ineffective consultants • Have poor interpersonal skills • Lack sensitivity to the needs of individual athletes • Lack specific psychological knowledge to apply to the sport setting • Demonstrate inappropriate application of consulting skills at competitions • Rely on a “canned” approach when implementing psychological skills

Developing and Displaying Expertise • Experts Versus Nonexperts • Experts, compared to nonexperts, anticipate their opponents’ intentions significantly more quickly. • Experts are more accurate in their decision making. • Experts have fewer fixations of the eyes but for longer durations. • Experts extract more task-relevant information from each eye fixation. (continued)

Developing and Displaying Expertise (continued) • Experts Versus Non-Experts • Experts have longer “quiet eye” periods (time when task-relevant information cues are processed and motor plans coordinated). • Experts pick up information from opponents’ movements more quickly. (continued)

Developing and Displaying Expertise (continued) Development of expertise requires a consistent amount of deliberate practice (10,000 hours). Most talented performers cannot reach an international level in less than a decade of continuous deliberate practice.

Common Problems in Implementing a PST Program • Lack of conviction • Lack of time • Lack of knowledge of sport • Lack of follow-up

Chapter 11: Introduction to Psychological Skills Training