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Women’s World Cup: Performance Enhancement Through Mental Skills Training

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Abstract

Women's World Cup is one of the most significant events for girls and women in sports this century. The importance of mental skills for athletic success is certainly not new. Coaches and participants in every sport extol the importance of the four pillars of sport essential to competitive excellence—technical (requisite skills of a sport), tactical (strategies used), physiological (physical requirements), and psychological (mental skills). Most, however, focus almost exclusively on the first three dimensions. At its core, sport psychology addresses the psychological factors that influence performance in sport and the effects of that participation on the individual. Psychological skills mirror physical training parameters, As psychological skills are developed and refined with consistent, qualified, and systematic training, the benefits accruing from such training increase over the years. Although a majority of the members of the 1999 women's soccer team have been in psychological skills training for 4 or more years, several are early in their skills training development. Psychological skills training includes relaxation techniques, imagery, concentration and distraction control strategies, prepractice and precompetition preparation, positive self-talk and performance cues, goal setting, and team building. No counseling occurs from a clinical standpoint. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
News
From Washington,
DC
Colleen
M.
Hacker
Pacific
Lutheran
University
Women's World Cup:
Performance Enhancement Through
Mental
Skills
Training
When
Brand!
Chastain
scored
on the fifth
penalty
kick taken
by the
U.S. women's
soccer
team
in the
Rose Bowl
stadium
on
July
10,
1999,
it was the
largest
crowd
in
history
to
watch
a
women's
sporting event.
In
fact,
beyond
the
sellout
crowd
in the
sta-
dium (more than
91,000
fans),
it is
estimated
that
40
million Americans
and 1
billion
people worldwide watched this historic
event.
All five
successful, pressure-filled
penalty
kicks
by the
American players
may
well have been
the
athletic equivalent
of the
historic
"shots
heard
'round
the
world."
Women's
World
Cup is one of the
most
significant
events
for
girls
and
women
in
sports this century. Although
the
profes-
sional sports leagues most familiar
to
Ameri-
cans,
such
as the
National Football League
and
Major
League
Baseball, claim
to
crown
"world
champions,"
the
competition
is be-
tween
teams
for
only
one or two
countries.
The
Federation
Internationale
de
Football
Association
(FIFA)
World
Cup
truly
is a
world
championship.
In
1999,
16
different
nations
qualified
a
women's team, including
Norway,
China, Nigeria, North Korea, Ger-
many,
Brazil,
Russia,
and
Australia. Virtu-
ally
every continent
was
represented
in a
championship
held
in
seven
different
Ameri-
can
cities
and
drawing
a
tournament crowd
of
some
650,000
fans.
The
U.S. women's
team
qualified
for all
three World Champi-
onship tournaments, winning
the
inaugural
event
in
1991
and finishing
third
in
1995,
before
reclaiming
the
World
Championship
title
in
1999.
I
have been
a fan of the
"beautiful
game
of
soccer"
(as
Brazilian star
Pele
called
it) for
more
than
two
decades
and
coached
colle-
giate
soccer teams
for
15
years.
I was one of
those
enthusiastic
fans
at
every game
in
which
the
U.S. team played.
My
personal
and
professional interest
in
last year's World
Championship, however, transcended
both
roles. Since
1995,1
have served
as the
men-
tal
skills
coach
for the
U.S. Women's
Na-
tional
Soccer Team. During those years,
the
team
won a
gold medal
in the
1996 Summer
Olympic
Games,
a
gold medal
in the
1998
Goodwill
Games,
and
then
the
1999
World
Championship.
Mental
Skills
for
Athletic
Success
The
importance
of
mental skills
for
ath-
letic
success
is
certainly
not
new. Coaches
and
participants
in
every sport extol
the im-
portance
of the
four
pillars
of
sport essen-
tial
to
competitive
excellence—technical
(req-
uisite
skills
of a
sport),
tactical (strategies
used),
physiological (physical requirements),
and
psychological (mental skills). Most,
however,
focus
almost exclusively
on the
first
three dimensions. This runs counter
to
both
anecdotal
and
survey data indicating
the
importance
of
psychological skills
to
ath-
letic excellence. When 1996 Olympians were
asked
to
list
the top 10
reasons
for
athletic
success
at
their level, athletes placed psy-
chological
components
in the top 5
places.
Listed
as
Number
1 was
mental toughness.
Baseball's
Yogi
Berra
captured these senti-
ments years earlier when
he
noted,
"Sport
is 50%
physical
and 90%
mental."
One
could question
his
quantitative
reasoning
skill
but not his
wisdom.
At
its
core,
sport
psychology
addresses
the
psychological factors
that
influence per-
formance
in
sport
and the
effects
of
that
participation
on the
individual.
Psychologi-
cal
skills
mirror
physical
training parameters,
As
psychological
skills
are
developed
and
refined
with consistent,
qualified,
and
sys-
tematic
training,
the
benefits accruing from
such
training
increase over
the
years.
Al-
though
a
majority
of the
members
of the
1999
women's
soccer
team have been
in
psychological
skills
training
for 4 or
more
years, several
are
early
in
their
skills
train-
ing
development.
Sport psychology organizations include
the
North American Society
for the
Psy-
chology
of
Sport
and
Physical
Activity,
the
International Society
for
Sport Psychology,
the
Association
for the
Advancement
of
Applied
Sport Psychology (AAASP),
and
the
American
Psychological
Association's
Division
47. The
U.S. Olympic Committee
and
AAASP
provide
a
certification registry.
Psychological Skills
Training
for
Performance
Enhancement
Because
my
primary academic training
is
in
physical education,
the
sport psychol-
ogy
services
I
provide
to the
U.S. national
team
are
fundamentally educational
in na-
ture.
My
role centers
on the
teaching
of
psy-
chological
skills
for
performance enhance-
ment.
Psychological
skills
training
includes
relaxation
techniques, imagery, concentration
and
distraction control strategies, preprac-
tice
and
precompetition
preparation, posi-
tive
self-talk
and
performance cues,
goal
setting,
and
team
building.
No
counseling
occurs from
a
clinical standpoint. When
an
athlete
requires clinical services,
I
refer
the
individual
to a
licensed clinical
(or
sport)
psychologist.
Clinical
issues
requiring
refer-
ral
might include severe
anxiety,
depression,
eating
disorders, substance
abuse,
or
rela-
tionship
concerns.
Team-building
activities
serve
a
critical
role,
assimilating
strong personalities
and
unique
individuals
into
a
unified
and
collective
whole
(i.e.,
"the team before me").
With
that
in
mind
and
given
the
diversity between
and
among team members, team
chemistry
must
be
"worked for" rather than
"hoped
for."
Team chemistry
is a
priority.
I
assist ath-
letes
in
dealing
with
competitive pressures,
team
selections, playing status, sleep pat-
terns,
travel demands, family
and
personal
issues,
and
team dynamics.
I
provide this
assistance
in
concert with
the
coaching
staff,
enhancing
and
supporting
their
efforts.
Thus,
I
do not
work
in a
vacuum,
but
rather
1
complement
the
philosophical
and
program-
matic
goals
of the
coaches. Their support
and
guidance
are
invaluable.
Professional
Psychology:
Research
and
Practice.
21X10,
Vol.
31.
No. 4.
363-364
Copyright
2000
by the
American
Psychological
Association,
Iric.
0735-7IX2MX¥$S.<IO
363
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
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... Within sport literature, psychological skills training has been used and documented as having positive performance implications in a variety of high-performance sport contexts (e.g., Beauchamp et al., 2012;Thelwell et al., 2006). Such implications have included enhanced psychological outcomes (e.g., motivation, positive perspectives towards sport participation; Birrer & Morgan, 2010;Podlog & Eklund, 2005), behaviour modification (e.g., self-regulation in response to high performance demands; Beauchamp et al., 2012;Massey et al., 2014), and improved and sustained performance (e.g., Hacker, 2000;Hut et al., 2021). In the last two decades, psychological skills training has been increasingly implemented subsequent to sportrelated injuries. ...
Thesis
The overarching purposes of this research were to (a) explore an under-acknowledged and under-emphasized aspect of the sport-related concussion experience: psychosocial factors of the injury experience and (b) identify possible intervention opportunities to support the associated psychological and social needs. A collaborative inquiry (Bray et al., 2000) was employed to generate data on the psychosocial experience of concussions in elite sport and to co-develop support strategies from a sport psychology lens. This qualitative research project involved three phases during which psychological and social needs, as well as psychosocial factors that facilitated and/or hindered the concussion recovery process, were discussed through two lenses. The first lens was an experiential one, whereby elite athletes who became concussed as a result of their sport engagement shared their experiences (Phase A). The second lens was that of professional expertise, whereby mental performance consultants who work in elite sport and deliver psychosocial support to concussed elite athletes shared their perspectives and clients’ experiences (Phase B). Following the sharing of these perspectives, a community of practice (Wenger et al., 2002) of mental performance consultants was formed to collaboratively discuss how mental performance consultants might be able to support the aforementioned psychological and social needs, and ultimately, concussion recovery (Phase C). Phase A. Ten elite athletes (as defined by Swann et al., 2015) participated in semi-structured focus groups (Smith & Sparkes, 2016). Athletes discussed their experiences of injury, challenges, facilitators and barriers to recovery, support mechanisms, support that was lacking but desired, and what they would do to help someone else with a concussion. The transcripts from these focus groups (n = 5, M = 58.1 min, Range: 46-88 min), follow-up questions, and informal conversations were analyzed using thematic narrative analysis (Smith, 2016), contributing to an understanding of the athletes’ lived experiences. Phase B. Nine mental performance consultants from the Canadian Sport Psychology Association and/or Association for Applied Sport Psychology who were working in high-performance sport participated in three focus groups (M = 79 min, Range = 66-98 min). Mental performance consultants were asked about their time in the field and other aspects of their consulting experience (e.g., sports, integrated within teams or not), the types of interventions they have done with concussed athletes, their perceptions of psychosocial support during the phases of concussion management, and challenges to effective service delivery. Verbatim transcripts of these focus groups were sent to the consultants and member reflections were requested (Smith & McGannon, 2018). The generated data were thematically analyzed using a six-phase cyclical and iterative approach (Braun et al., 2016). Phase C. Eight mental performance consultants from various sport contexts formed a community of practice (Wenger et al., 2002; E. Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2021). The group met over a period of four months (n = 8 meetings, M = 80 min, Range = 60-90 min). These meetings were intended to address the identified interests of the members of the community regarding support for concussed elite athletes. Concussion symptomatology, management efforts, and research were discussed; and professional scope of practice and intervention opportunities were explored through best practice discussions, client case studies, and engagements with two external experts. Mental performance consultants completed individual reflections (i.e., weekly reflective questions, value creation stories, personal value narratives; Wenger et al., 2011; E. Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015) resulting in 34 single-spaced pages of generated data, which were analyzed using the Value Creation Framework (E. Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015; 2021). The results of this multi-phase collaborative inquiry are presented in four articles. The first article offers a multi-systems perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; 1979; 1992) on athletes’ concussion experiences by exploring two collaboratively created narratives (Wertz, 2011; Willis, 2019) from the engagements with athletes in Phase A. Five themes (i.e., athletic identity, (dis)trust in relationships, concussion protocols, sport culture, and timing related to major events and recovery) are discussed. The second article combines the perspectives of athletes from Phase A and mental performance consultants in Phase B to identify psychological and social needs across the concussion recovery process. Four psychological needs (i.e., acceptance, normality, confidence, self-efficacy) and two social needs (i.e., trust in relationships, social support) were identified by both populations. The third article was collaboratively written to practically present how and where mental performance consultants can support concussed athletes across the phases of the injury based on the discussions in Phase C. Scope of practice, collaboration opportunities, and intervention strategies are discussed across four phases of injury (i.e., pre-injury, injury onset, rehabilitation, return to sport). The fourth article reflects the mental performance consultants’ participatory experiences in Phase C by exploring the value of the community of practice as a professional development and knowledge translation tool. Positive value was experienced across all eight cycles of the Value Creation Framework. Through the general discussion and practical implications sections of this dissertation, these results are situated within the landscapes of concussion research and practice to highlight opportunities for transforming concussion protocols and broadening the overall lens through which the concussion experience can be examined.
... Shortly thereafter, Weinberg and Gould (1999) concluded that educationally based MST enhances sport performance. Hacker (2000) also observed that both coaches and players' opinions regarding the importance of MST in sport have improved and that the development of MST programmes has increased. MST programmes are universally regarded as important tools for enhanced performance in sport (Blakeslee & Goff, 2007). ...
... Following Suinn's (1985) seminal paper entitled The 1984 Olympics and Sport Psychology, a special edition of The Sport Psychologist (Roberts, 1989) was dedicated to the delivery of psychological services to Olympic teams of the 1984–1988 Olympiad—both Winter and Summer Games. This special edition spurred a flurry of journal articles (Haberl & Peterson, 2006;Hacker, 2000;Hodge, 1993;Orlick, 2002;Partington & Orlick, 1991;Terry, Hardy, Jones, & Rodgers, 1997), a review paper (Gould & Maynard, 2009), book chapters (Clarke, 2004;Gould, 2001;Hodge, 2010;Hodge & Hermansson, 2009;Katz, 2009;McCann, 2000;Shambrook, 2009), a book (Miller, 1997), and Olympic and Paralympic special editions of Sport & Exercise Psychology Review (Anderson & Cecil, 2006), Athletic Insight: The Online Journal of Sport Psychology (Schinke, 2007), and International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (Samulski, 2008). Collectively, this body of work offers privileged insights into the practice of sport psychologists working with Olympic and Paralympic athletes, coaches, and teams. ...
... Therefore, the societal perception of the role of the psychologist in athletes' training is interesting. Certainly, the role of the psychologist , as a consultant and an individual responsible for mental training during the preparatory phase, is acknowledged by specialists and athletes themselves [32]. There were cases in which an elevated level of stress associated with pressure was reflected by a decrease in the ability to perform familiar and well-trained activity, e.g. ...
... He also notes that a reluctance in elite sport to have large numbers of people involved with the team acts as a further barrier to organizational-level intervention. When elite sport has engaged psychological support, the focus has tended to be on mental skills training to enhance athletes' performance (see, e.g., Gould, Tammen, Murphy, & May, 1989;Hacker, 2000). Our intention here is not to undervalue such individualorientated approaches but simply to highlight that these may not be sufficient in addressing the expanding needs of those operating in contemporary elite sport. ...
Article
ObjectivesThe rapid development of elite sport in Europe and across the world has had far-reaching psychosocial ramifications for those operating within its sphere of influence. Whilst sport psychologists in the latter part of the 20th century largely focused on the cognitive determinates of elite performance, the findings of recent research suggest that sport psychologists in the 21st century will need to better understand the organizational influences on world-class athletes. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to discuss the emergence, application and future of organizational psychology knowledge in elite performance sport.MethodNarrative review and commentary.Results and conclusionThe review discusses the findings of six lines of inquiry that point to the salience of organizational issues in elite sport: i) factors affecting Olympic performance; ii) organizational stress in athletes, coaches and parents; iii) perceptions of roles within sports teams; iv) organizational success factors in sport and business; v) performance environments in elite sport; and vi) organizational citizenship behavior in sport. The commentary then focuses on the theoretical underpinnings and practical implementation of organizational service delivery in elite sport, and concludes by reflecting on how developments in this area have the potential to inform future practice and research relating to the psychology of elite sport.
Article
Full-text available
Team building (TB) is regarded as one of the most effective group development interventions in organizations (Cannon-Bowers, J. A., & Bowers, C. [2010]. Team development and functioning. In S. Zedeck [Ed.] APA handbook of industrial and organizational psychology [Vol. 1, pp. 597–650]. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.). Although the body of literature on TB continues to grow, there have been few attempts to synthesize TB research in sport. The present study examined the influential texts (articles, books, and chapters) providing the basis for TB in sport using two novel, yet related, research synthesis approaches; namely, citation network analysis and citation path analysis. Results revealed how a focus on cohesion helped shape present conceptualizations and research of TB in sport. The findings also serve to highlight alternative perspectives and frameworks (i.e., other than those with a focus on cohesion) that may have been overlooked or ignored by group dynamics researchers interested in TB in sport. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
The prevalence of complement dependent, cold-reactive lymphocytotoxic serum factors (LT) was studied in 80 untreated patients with Hodgkin'S disease by a microcytotoxicity assay. Sera from 24 patients (30%) contained LT as judged from at least 50% lysis of lymphocytes from 16 of 23 randomly selected normal donors. The spontaneous incorporation of 14C-thymidine into blood lymphocytes from patients with LT was significantly higher than that of lymphocytes from LT-negative patients and from healthy controls. Total lymphocyte and T-cell counts, Concanavalin A, and pokeweed mitogen-induced lymphocyte DNA synthesis were lower in patients with LT. Lymphocytotoxic sera were more frequently encountered in patients with B symptoms, advanced disease, or nodular sclerosis/lymphocyte predominance histopathologic characteristics. LT were often found in patients with large and tumor-involved spleens. The ability of patient'S serum to inhibit control lymphocyte response to Concanavalin A stimulation did not differ between LT-positive and LT-negative patients. We conclude that the presence of LT is associated with a quantitative and qualitative impairment of blood T-lymphocytes in untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease.
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