Exploring a practitioner-athlete relationship and facilitated learning throughout a psychological skills training program

Abstract

Psychological skills training (PST) programs have been consistently reported as an important part of preparation for optimal performance in high performance sport. However, there is much less research about the quality and characteristics of the working relationship between a sport psychology practitioner (SPP) and an athlete and, importantly, how that relationship facilitates learning. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper was to explore the working relationship between a SPP and a volleyball player and how that working relationship facilitated the learning processes utilized by this player, as she prepared for the demands of her sport and life. An instrumental case study methodology with a qualitative description approach was employed to illustrate different aspects of the evolving relationship and the athlete’s experiences. The results of this case reflect an approach that combined features of both a directive approach in teaching specific psychological skills and a less directive and more collaborative approach, which, in turn, allowed an athlete to begin to learn how to guide their own learning.

Full text

Frontiers in Psychology 01 frontiersin.org
Exploring a practitioner-athlete
relationship and facilitated
learning throughout a
psychological skills training
program
XiaoZhang *, MorganRogers and PennyWerthner
Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Psychological skills training (PST) programs have been consistently reported as an
important part of preparation for optimal performance in high performance sport.
However, there is much less research about the quality and characteristics of the
working relationship between a sport psychology practitioner (SPP) and an athlete
and, importantly, how that relationship facilitates learning. Therefore, the purpose
of the present paper was to explore the working relationship between a SPP and a
volleyball player and how that working relationship facilitated the learning processes
utilized by this player, as she prepared for the demands of her sport and life. An
instrumental case study methodology with a qualitative description approach was
employed to illustrate dierent aspects of the evolving relationship and the athlete’s
experiences. The results of this case reflect an approach that combined features of
both a directive approach in teaching specific psychological skills and a less directive
and more collaborative approach, which, in turn, allowed an athlete to begin to learn
how to guide their own learning.
KEYWORDS
sport psychology practitioner-athlete working relationship, learning processes,
psychological skills training program, career transition, instrumental case study
1 Introduction
Over the last three decades, the eld of sport psychology has become much more accepted
as an important part of preparation for optimal performance in high performance sport.
Psychological skills training (PST) programs have been designed to enable athletes to learn
critical skills such as focus, self-talk, setting of eective goals, visualization, competition
planning, and debrieng (Jones etal., 2002; Connaughton etal., 2010; Beauchamp etal., 2012;
Wang and Zhang, 2015). Development of these skills has also been shown to enhance the
psychological well-being and mental health of athletes (Horn etal., 2011; Golby and Wood,
2016; Foster and Chow, 2020; Durand-Bush etal., 2022). In particular, eective goal setting is
one of the key strategies of a psychoeducational model which is designed to foster athletes’ life
skills through sport and assist athletes in career transition (Danish etal., 1993; Lavallee, 2005;
Kendellen and Camiré, 2017).
Weinberg and Gould (2015) dene a PST program as a “systematic and consistent practice
of mental or psychological skills for the purpose of enhancing performance, increasing
enjoyment or achieving greater sport and physical activity self-satisfaction” (p. 248). e
premise of PST programs is that optimal performance occurs when athletes are able to regulate
their internal functioning such as cognition, emotions, and sensations. When negative
OPEN ACCESS
EDITED BY
Miguel-Angel Gomez-Ruano,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
REVIEWED BY
Datao Xu,
Ningbo University, China
Andrea Woodburn,
Laval University, Canada
*CORRESPONDENCE
Xiao Zhang
xiao.zhang1@ucalgary.ca
RECEIVED 11 December 2023
ACCEPTED 12 March 2024
PUBLISHED 26 March 2024
CITATION
Zhang X, Rogers M and Werthner P (2024)
Exploring a practitioner-athlete relationship
and facilitated learning throughout a
psychological skills training program.
Front. Psychol. 15:1354129.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1354129
COPYRIGHT
© 2024 Zhang, Rogers and Werthner. This is
an open-access article distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License (CC BY). The use, distribution or
reproduction in other forums is permitted,
provided the original author(s) and the
copyright owner(s) are credited and that the
original publication in this journal is cited, in
accordance with accepted academic
practice. No use, distribution or reproduction
is permitted which does not comply with
these terms.
TYPE Original Research
PUBLISHED 26 March 2024
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1354129

Zhang et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1354129
Frontiers in Psychology 02 frontiersin.org
thoughts or emotions occur, athletic performance is more oen than
not interrupted (Hardy etal., 1996). us, the goal of a PST program
is to develop an athlete’s capacity to monitor and manage their
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is also suggested that a PST
program needs to besequenced to meet the various needs of dierent
athletes in dierent sports and periodized and integrated with the
physiological preparation to ensure the greatest benet (Balague,
2000; Holliday et al., 2008; Blumenstein and Orbach, 2020).
Specically, psychological skills such as visualization, self-talk, and
recovery, have been examined as an eective way to enhance
performance and reduce physical and mental fatigue within the sport
of volleyball, a sport characterized by high intensity and short duration
with a high incidence of injury (Shoenfelt and Grith, 2008; Fortes
etal., 2020; Xu etal., 2020; Coimbra etal., 2021).
Oen, a PST program involves a multimodal format integrating the
psychological skills systematically to enable an athlete to reduce negative
thoughts, control potentially harmful distractions, and increase self-
awareness and condence (Hardy et al., 1996). Importantly, these
programs have been frequently employed to not only enhance
performance (elwell and Maynard, 2003; Sheard and Golby, 2006;
Vealey, 2007; Birrer and Morgan, 2010; Beauchamp etal., 2012; Wang and
Zhang, 2015), but also enhance an athlete’s positive psychological prole
(Sheard and Golby, 2006; Golby and Wood, 2016).
Understandably, the majority of the research in the eld has
been focused on the interventions utilized to develop these
psychological skills (Barker etal., 2020). Much less research has
been dedicated to exploring the quality and characteristics of the
working relationship between the sport psychology practitioners
(SPPs) and clients (Tod and Andersen, 2012). Research in the eld
of counseling psychology, highlighting the critical importance of
the practitioner-client working relationship, can help us
understand the value in developing such relationships (Duncan
etal., 2010), and scholars and SPPs in the eld of sport psychology
have argued that the SPP-athlete relationship is similar (Petitpas
etal., 1999; Tod and Andersen, 2012).
Practitioner opinion pieces highlight the importance of trust,
rapport, and caring as vital for developing the SPP-athlete relationship
(Fifer etal., 2008; Werthner and Coleman, 2009). Research exploring
consultant views on such relationships, conducted by Sharp etal.
(2015) as well as Arnold and Sarkar (2015), suggest knowledge and
expertise, ethical behavior, rapport, respect, trust, and being available
for support are hallmarks of an eective SPP-athlete relationship.
Tod etal. (2023) explored SPPs’ narratives of client-led approaches to
working with athletes and highlighted that such an approach reects, at
least in part, adopting a person-centered therapy approach (Rogers, 1959).
e work of Rogers (1961, 1963) emphasized building a relationship
based on empathy, respect, and authenticity and a strong belief that clients
are capable of determining their own behavior, dependent upon a number
of conditions. Nevertheless, in the article by Tod etal. (2023), the authors
acknowledge that SPPs in sport psychology may use both a client-led
approach, which is non-directive and encourages the athlete to play an
active role, and a SPP-led, more directive role, determining the specic
psychological skills to belearned. is combination of a non-directive
stance with a directive framework, according to the authors, makes sense
given the setting of high-performance sport.
In turning to consider how a SPP-athlete relationship might also
facilitate the learning of specic psychological skills, it is useful to
reect briey on the process of learning. One theory of learning that
looks at learning from a constructivist view of learning, focuses on
how an individual makes sense of their world, and suggests two views
of learning to help us understand the actual process: the “building a
brick wall” and “the network” (Moon, 2004, p.16). e metaphor of
building a brick wall implies that there is an instructor who provides
the information that builds one’s knowledge. It is assumed that the
instructor knows best how the “bricks” of knowledge will t together
and suggests, without instruction, there is no learning. Her second
metaphor is described as “a vast but exible network of ideas and
feelings with groups of more tightly associated linked ideas/feelings”
(Moon, 2004, p. 16). In this view, learning takes place in many
dierent ways and an instructor may or may not bepresent. Learning
from this perspective is seen as a life-long process, taking into account
what an individual already may know, at any point in time, and how
new learning may, or may not, beincorporated into what Moon
(2004) calls an individual’s “cognitive structure” (p. 17). In other
words, one can learn in a course, with an instructor facilitating
learning and one can learn by reecting on current knowledge and
develop a deeper understanding of a particular idea or topic. is
theory and both views of learning can help us frame an understanding
of how an athlete may learn psychological skills from the instruction
of a SPP and, at the same time, learn how to reect, ask questions, try
out dierent strategies and incorporate the developing expertise into
what they are experiencing in their on-going sporting experience.
erefore, the purpose of the present paper was to explore the
working relationship between a SPP and a volleyball player and how
that working relationship facilitated the learning processes utilized by
this player as she prepared psychologically for the demands of her
sport and her life.
2 Methods
2.1 Methodology
e philosophical paradigm of the present research is situated in
constructivism suggesting the presence of multiple, subjective realities
(Sparkes and Smith, 2014). Individuals experience and make meaning
of these multiple realities in dierent ways and constructivist research
relies heavily on research participant voices and the contexts and
cultures that give rise to their experiences (Creswell and Poth, 2013).
Qualitative description is an approach that provides an in-depth
summary of a participant’s experience in easily accessible language
(Sandelowski, 2000; Bradshaw etal., 2017; Doyle etal., 2020).
Case studies are specic and bounded and allow us to develop an
in-depth understanding of a particular event or issue (Creswell and
Poth, 2013; Hodge and Sharp, 2017). Instrumental case studies focus
on a specic topic, where a case is selected for its ability to illustrate
the chosen issue (Creswell and Poth, 2013; Hodge and Sharp, 2017).
e present research uses an instrumental case study to create a rich
illustration of the development of a working relationship between a
SPP and an athlete as well as how that working relationship facilitated
the learning processes utilized by the player.
2.2 Procedure
Ethical approval was obtained from the researchers’ university
ethics board for the design and implementation of an 18-month PST
program as well as the present research. e rst author joined a

Zhang et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1354129
Frontiers in Psychology 03 frontiersin.org
Chinese provincial professional women’s volleyball team as a SPP
and researcher.
2.2.1 The setting of the study
e present study was conducted with one female volleyball
player who played on three dierent teams over the course of this
18-month intervention (two Chinese provincial professional volleyball
teams and a Chinese university women’s volleyball team). As part of a
larger study on PST with two Chinese volleyball teams based in
Beijing, China, an introductory meeting and a series of team sessions
were held from April to July 2021. Many of the sessions were held in
person as the SPP was embedded in the team setting. However, several
individual consultations and a third interview were conducted online
via WeChat (a multi-purpose social media and messaging app used as
both a work app and communication app in mainland China, allowing
users to send messages, make voice and video calls, share photos and
videos etc.) due to the on-going presence of COVID-19. All team
sessions were formal and lasted approximately 1 h and the individual
sessions ranged from 45min to 1 h.
At the time of the study, one of the researchers (rst author) was
a PhD candidate under the supervision of a professor at a Canadian
university who also works in the eld of sport psychology (third
author). e rst author was born in China, earned her undergraduate
degree in China, and then completed a master’s degree in the
UnitedStates. e rst author’s ability to speak mandarin Chinese and
understand Chinese culture, along with her education, provided her
with an insider-outsider viewpoint and an ability to work eectively
with Chinese athletes (Berger, 2015).
2.2.2 Participant
During the team sessions, one player approached the SPP and
asked if she could meet individually with the SPP. As a result, the
present study is an exploration of the work with that individual athlete
over a period of 18 months. is athlete started playing volleyball at a
sport school at the age of 14. Two years later, at the age of 16, she began
playing professional volleyball at the national and international level.
At the age of 19, she entered university as a professional player. At the
age of 20, she decided to leave professional volleyball but continued to
play the sport as a student-athlete.
2.2.3 Data collection
Once the intervention was agreed upon, the athlete signed a
consent form, and an in-depth, semi-structured interview was
conducted by the SPP. e purpose of the rst interview was to ask
about the athlete’s experiences in sport and her current understanding
of various psychological skills (e.g., Tell me about your sport
performance to date. Tell me what youknow about psychological skills
and how youcurrently manage the stress of competition). Aer this
initial interview, the athlete participated in an 18-month PST program
consisting of four team sessions with teammates and regular individual
meetings with the SPP, while training and competing on two
provincial level professional women’s volleyball teams and
subsequently on a university team.
Two subsequent interviews were conducted to understand how
the athlete was learning the psychological skills and utilizing those
skills in training and competition, as well as in other parts of her life
(e.g., Please tell me what skills, if any, inuenced your performance in
competition, in school, and in your life in general? Tell me about what
might have been new for youas weworked on preparing for training,
competition, and your studies? What skills, if any, might help youas
you consider transitioning out of high-performance sport?) (See
Table1 for timeline.)
e three semi-structured interviews were conducted in mandarin
Chinese, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim by the rst author
in mandarin Chinese. All identifying information was removed from
the transcripts. e rst author sent the verbatim transcripts in
mandarin Chinese to the participant and no changes were suggested.
e transcripts were then translated into English, resulting in 26
single-spaced pages. As well, entries from the rst author’s reexivity
journal are included in the results.
2.2.4 Data analysis
Doyle etal. (2020) suggest analysis in a qualitative descriptive
study should be inductive, without transforming data beyond
recognition, with the goal of providing a comprehensive summary of
participant experiences that remain close to their original account.
erefore, data were analyzed using a hierarchical content analysis
which examines what has been said by a participant. Patterns in the
TABLE1 Timeframe of the PST program.
Date Sessions Place
April–July
2021
Tea m
sessions
Introduction to
sport psychology
and psychological
skills training
4 sessions Beijing,
China
Goal setting,
focus, self-talk,
visualization etc.
Debrieng and
competition plans
Team cohesion
1st interview
Individual consultations 12 times/month
Beijing,
China and
Online via
WeC h a t
August–
October
2021
Individual consultations
2 times/month
(e athlete was
away at home or at
school, playing as a
student-athlete.)
Online via
WeC h a t
November–
December
2021
Individual consultations 2 times/week
Jiangmen,
China and
Online via
WeC h a t
January–
September
2022
Individual consultations
2 times/month
(Due to
COVID-19, the
athlete spent most
of time at home.)
Beijing,
China and
Online via
WeC h a t
2nd interview In person
3rd interview Online via WeChat

Zhang et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1354129
Frontiers in Psychology 04 frontiersin.org
data are categorized and described in a way that allows general
knowledge about a topic to bedeveloped (Sparkes and Smith, 2014;
Bradshaw etal., 2017). Sparkes and Smith (2014) outline the following
procedure for a hierarchical content analysis: immersion in the data,
identifying themes, connecting themes, reviewing themes, further
rening themes with another investigator, and presenting results. e
transcripts were thoroughly reviewed several times to familiarize the
authors with the data set. Following this, an initial set of themes were
developed, to ensure a level of interpretation while remaining “data-
near” (Sandelowski, 2010, p.78), discussed extensively between the
rst and third authors, and rened.
2.2.5 Rigor
Given that Sandelowski (2000) notes that data cannot exist in a
theoretical vacuum and qualitative descriptive studies will still
beinuenced by the researchers’ lived experience, the rst author kept
a reexive journal throughout the 18-month period, documenting her
thoughts, impressions, and questions that emerged from
implementation of the team sessions and individual consultations, and
the primary author’s PhD supervisor (third author) acted as a critical
friend throughout the research process (Smith and McGannon, 2018).
ere were bi-weekly conversations between the rst author and her
supervisor, discussing what was working, what the SPP was struggling
with, and what questions she had for the next series of
individual sessions.
3 Results
As noted by Sandelowski (2000), qualitative descriptive data are
represented in a way that best “ts the data” (339) and, as a result, for
the purpose of the present study, the ndings are presented
chronologically to illustrate how Yolanda (a pseudonym) experienced
the PST program, how she learned throughout the 18-month
intervention, and how the working relationship between Yolanda and
the SPP evolved over the 18-month time period.
3.1 In the beginning
In April and May of 2021, the SPP provided four team sessions on
the development of psychological skills to one of the two professional
teams. Yolanda was part of this team. Two times per week, the coaches
also asked the SPP to choose a psychological skill to speak about with
the players prior to the training session. As well, during the weekly
team meeting, the SPP addressed specic skills based on what she
observed in the training.
In one of the early sessions, the SPP asked each of the players to
write down what they thought they might need to work on to bebetter
prepared psychologically for both training and games. Yolanda
attended all four team sessions but did not initially interact with the
SPP and wrote very little on paper. Yolanda spoke of the rst few team
sessions and how she was reluctant to share what she thought:
When youcame to the team at that time, Iwas not familiar with
youand Idid not listen to your presentation very carefully, because
there were oen many people who came to give lectures to the whole
team that were not helpful to me. So, Itook this lecture time as
relaxation. Idid not dare write the truth when Ianswered your
questions because Iwas afraid that the coach would read it, and that
might not begood.
is early reection from the athlete speaks, in part, to the time it
takes to build toward a productive working relationship. Certainly,
living in the training center and regularly attending practices, video
analysis sessions, and games, to both observe the context and begin to
interact with the athletes in general and Yolanda specically, enabled
the SPP to begin to build a connection with Yolanda. e SPP also
spoke with her supervisor (third author) about how to develop a
relationship with Yolanda, and reected in her journal:
e main task of the rst few weeks is for me to learn more about
volleyball, to let the team know my background and my role in the
team, and to start slowly building rapport with Yolanda by observing
her practices and listening to her. At this point Iwas still providing
team sessions to the whole team and not yet conducting individual
sessions with her.
3.2 The individual sessions
In June 2021, following the conclusion of the team sessions,
Yolanda approached the SPP to ask if they could continue to work
together individually and spoke of a number of concerns she was
facing. She was worried about her ability to play well consistently, she
was worried about her teammates and coaches knowing she was
meeting individually with the SPP, and she was also concerned about
them knowing she was considering transitioning from being a
professional player to a student-athlete. However, Yolanda noted the
SPP’s approach of maintaining condentiality strengthened their
burgeoning relationship.
Gradually, Irealized that youwould not tell what Itold youto the
coach, like the rst time youasked us to answer questions on
training, youdid not report to the coach, which made me trust youa
lot. And in our daily conversations, youalways ask what Ineed,
even when it’s unrelated to training.
To better understand Yolanda’s decision to make a sport career
transition at the age of 20, as well as continue to develop rapport, the
SPP asked Yolanda about her experiences in the sport, including what
motivated her and what she enjoyed about playing volleyball. Yolanda
shared that her primary motivation to play volleyball was to “get a
National Elite Athlete certicate to enter a national level university as
a student-athlete.” Yolanda had already been considering transitioning
from professional volleyball to being a student-athlete for several
months when she began working with the SPP.
Because Yolanda was planning to transition from professional
sport to university sport, she initially sought out the SPP for support
on her academics and returning to full-time university, rather than
focusing on skills for training and competing. As Yolanda and the SPP
began to discuss how Yolanda might return to school as a student-
athlete and transition from the professional team to a university level
team, the SPP took time to learn more about the university sport
setting. e SPP noted in her journal that Yolanda would need to

Zhang et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1354129
Frontiers in Psychology 05 frontiersin.org
balance studying with training, so she planned to work with Yolanda
on goal setting and debrieng, to better help Yolanda adapt to the
stresses of university life as a student-athlete. e SPP also suggested
that working together on the various psychological skills while
continuing to train with the professional team could benet her as a
student-athlete when she transitioned to the university team.
Therefore, Yolanda and the SPP started working on specific
psychological skills to manage the stress of training and
competition. Working on these skills was new to Yolanda, as she
shared that she had taken a sport psychology course in university,
but the course was “mostly about theories rather than the applied
knowledge helping my performance.” As well, Yolanda mentioned
she “could not remember what you(the SPP) talked about in the
team sessions very well.” Individual sessions involved working on
how to focus effectively in practice and games, how to develop a
clear understanding of her role and position on the team, how to
practice the skill of visualization through “seeing” and “feeling”
different plays and possible reactions to various scenarios,
learning how to set effective daily and longer term goals, and
spending time reflecting on each training session to bebetter
prepared for the next day of training.
In the past Iwas passive (in training) and did not want to practice.
Ithink Ican now talk about my own understanding of volleyball.
It’s all aer youcame to the team during this period. Inever had this
kind of help before. It makes no sense chatting with friends or
parents. ey have never been in this competitive environment. e
best they can do is just encourage me to bepositive.
Yolanda also worked with the SPP on her communication skills
and being more proactive in training and interactions with her coach.
Despite her challenges with English, Yolanda was also keen to
participate in discussions between the SPP and the European strength
and conditioning coach, relying on the SPP’s assistance for translation.
e following quote from Yolanda illustrates how she began to take an
active role in her training.
Training with him (the strength and conditioning coach) was quite
dierent from other Chinese coaches. Hetaught us how to do each
movement clearly, told us how the muscles work and explained why
he asked us to do so, rather than just doing squats with heavy
weights. Training with him is not easy, but Iwant to put all my eort
in and ask him questions about how to strength train to improve my
spiking in competition. You(the SPP) were helping with translation
in the training sessions with us, which made me feel more
comfortable to talk with him. Also, I could learn certain English
words in volleyball through your translation and make notes in my
daily journal.
From June to August 2021, Yolanda kept a daily reective journal,
which she shared with the SPP on an almost daily basis. In addition to
seeking out the SPP in person to share her daily reections, Yolanda
and the SPP occasionally spent time together working together on her
schoolwork. e SPP noted in her own journal that, in addition to
individual sessions working on the psychological skills, discussing
Yolanda’s daily journal notes helped to develop Yolanda’s ability to
articulate her thoughts and emotions as well as apply what she was
learning to both her training and studies.
Although Yolanda cannot communicate very well with the strength
and conditioning coach due to language barriers, she wants to learn
more about the research on strength training in women’s volleyball.
With my help in translation, she was able to start applying what she
learned in her own training. Yolanda reected on these conversations
in her daily journal and discussed with me. Also, Yolanda enjoyed
studying together in the evenings. Iwould work on my own work,
and wewould sometimes discuss what she was learning in school.
Ihelped her when Icould.
In late August 2021, aer many conversations with the SPP
regarding what life might look like aer professional sport, Yolanda
decided, with the support of her parents, to go back to school and yet
still play volleyball as a student-athlete. At this point, Yolanda still
wanted to work with the SPP.
During this time, it became clear to the SPP that Yolanda was
becoming eager to learn more about both her training and her future.
She was curious and wanted to learn from the SPP how to “think
about” what she was working on in both practice and school. Yolanda
wanted to understand how she could learn from each game, how she
could better prepare for both training and exams, and how she could
balance study and training.
My life used to besimple while living in the professional team. ere
were three places that Iwould go every day: dorm, canteen, and
court. Idid not need to care about anything except training. It was
just high intensity and a large quantity of training starting from a
very young age on the professional team. Although Ido not enjoy
playing volleyball now, Iamstill working hard on the court… when
Iamtraining and competing on court, Iamstill very serious… If
Ihave classes aer, Iwill go to class. If no classes, Iwould continue
to study in the classroom until the building is closed. en Igo back
to the dorm and go to bed directly. Ifeel very tired, but very satised.
As Yolanda’s interest in time management and dealing with
multiple tasks grew, the relationship and work between the SPP and
Yolanda evolved. Over time, the SPP began helping Yolanda adapt to
university life alongside enhancing her training and performance. As
well, at Yolanda’s request, the SPP helped Yolanda maintain a number
of processes and create a few new ones- the development of a plan for
each day and then a debrief process at the end of each day of training
and school to reect on how it all went. As part of these changes,
Yolanda reected on the importance of writing.
I think writing down my thoughts is really better than just thinking.
Ithought Icould remember everything by thinking rather than
writing. But Ifound that some of my training information was
missing. Ithink when Iwrite it down, Ihave all the details clearly
articulated. Ithink the main purpose of a writing journal is to help
me sort out what Ipracticed today and my performance, what Idid
not do well, what Ishould and could do, and what Ineed to improve
for the next training session. And along with writing at the end of
training, Ithink the process of thinking before training may beeven
more useful for me.
Similarly, Yolanda created a plan and reected on it for her life in
school and when she had the opportunity to help with team administrative
work during the China University Volleyball League.

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Frontiers in Psychology 06 frontiersin.org
For both training and school, Ineed to take care of myself and nish
other tasks the coach or teachers give to me. During the college
competition, Iworked for the team as the team manager. Ihad no
experience dealing with these administrative issues, but
yousuggested to me to write it all down, just like what Idid before
each competition. So Iwrote it down on my phone every night. If
Idid not know how to do it, Iwould ask for help in advance, and it
was always much better the next day.
ese journal reections, and notes on Yolanda’s phone, oen
became the basis for discussion in the individual sessions. Whether in
person or online, this process enabled Yolanda to think deeply,
increasing her self-awareness, and creating a sense of personal agency
as her life progressed.
Setting goals and creating a clear purpose for oneself in both sport
and life was one of the critical skills introduced to Yolanda in the early
team sessions and something she worked on and talked about
throughout her individual sessions. As the sessions progressed,
Yolanda also began to understand the value of setting small goals for
training sessions, school, and her future. She also spoke about learning
to use goals as a way to both focus during practice and focus on steps
she needed to take to becoming a university student.
My goal is to get a postgraduate recommendation. Winning the
championship for my university in National Sport College Volleyball
League is the most likely way for me to get that recommendation.
But Ialso need to study hard to bequalied, that is, to pass CET-4
(College English Test, Level 4), and my grades ranking need to beat
or near the top.
In November 2021, Yolanda was selected to play at a national
tournament. Aer playing as a student-athlete for several months,
Yolanda was not condent in her ability to compete again in a high
intensity professional competition. is situation also reminded
Yolanda of the injuries she had experienced over the course of her
career, and as a result, she struggled with her condence in returning
to play as a professional volleyball player.
In 2020, Isprained my ankle when Iwas blocking on the right
forward during training and Ihave not recovered very well from
that. Now, Iamvery afraid to beinjured again. Ido not even have
a picture in mind that I ever did this movement well. Ithought
Icould not play well anymore.
To slowly rebuild her condence and enable her to become ready to
return to playing professional volleyball in the tournament, the SPP and
Yolanda continued to work together on the skill of visualizing dierent
plays, on dierentiating between eective and ineective thinking, and
practicing self-talk that would help rebuild her condence.
I think visualization is very helpful in making me think deeply and
correctly every day. For example, for the right forward blocking,
Iwatch my favorite player’s blocking video and then visualize how
Ido that movement on court. Aer watching, Ihave it in mind and
then Ican visualize how Ido it and keep it in mind every day. It
helps so much.
As the individual sessions progressed during the professional
tournament in November and December 2021, Yolanda worked on
developing a clear plan for each day of training, and felt she began to truly
learn how to take control of what she was thinking and how to manage
her emotions when things did not go well in training and competitions.
At least, through the meetings with you, Icould calm down and gure
out what Icould do for the next game or competition. No matter if the
team wins or not, Ijust focused on myself, what Icould do. A good spike
needs working with the setter, but for blocking, Icould do that by myself.
And Ifocused on this competition as a chance to improve myself. Aer
each game, Idebriefed with you--about what youasked me to think
about. Iknow a lot about high-level players and now have a clearer
understanding of my own strengths and shortcomings. Ithought what
youtaught me is to debrief aer training or competition, and to make
a plan before training or competition, to help me think clearly, and focus
on what I can do, rather than to only care about the results or
evaluations of others.
3.3 Concluding
In January 2022, Yolanda had just nished participating in a
national competition as a professional player. She expressed
excitement about embarking on a new chapter in her life but also
admitted feeling nervous and unsure about being a capable university
student and student-athlete. Transitioning from being a professional
athlete to a student-athlete with the lower intensity of training made
training relatively easy for Yolanda. However, having spent a number
of years training as a professional player with limited academic classes,
Yolanda lacked condence in her studying ability.
Training with the university team is easier and less time-consuming for
me compared to my experience with the professional team. But it is
harder for me to get a good GPA than a good performance on court.
Iknow Ihave to work hard and put a great deal of eort into studying…
but is hard for me to focus on studying. I have been training in a
professional sport team without getting a formal education for such a
long time. Iknow it will bedicult for me to catch up with normal
students. But at least Inow know how to focus.
Due to the pandemic in China in early 2022, Yolanda explained
she spent six months at home with her family, taking online courses
and training. Compared to the previous two months of attending
school on campus, Yolanda shied her emphasis to enhancing her
learning abilities and thinking about her future. e conversations
between Yolanda and the SPP continued, in part, to beon learning,
and on Yolanda’s vision for her future life.
At present, my plan is to complete my master’s degree. e main
thing is that Ido not know what Ican do in the future. Being a coach
or a teacher may not bevery easy for me, but Iwill try my best to
pass the exam to get a teaching qualication in the primary and
secondary school. It could bea backup. At least it could let me
beindependent in the future.
While staying at home from January to early August 2022, the SPP
helped Yolanda with the preparation for her exams and with developing
a routine. Along with schoolwork, the SPP also helped Yolanda work on
her preparation for English exams and a teaching certicate. With that
help, Yolanda gradually began developing learning habits which, she said,

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Frontiers in Psychology 07 frontiersin.org
“make me very comfortable.” rough these conversations and sessions,
Yolanda applied the skills she used in sport to her schoolwork and came
to understand that setting small goals for herself, on a daily basis, enabled
an eective focus for studying, and brought her happiness and a sense
of accomplishment.
Yes, my long-term goal is a postgraduate recommendation. To split
it up and set some small goals for myself, which can beachieved at
each stage, just like the psychological feelings of eating melon seeds.
Why do people love eating melon seeds so much? Because wecan get
happiness in the moment, wedo not have to wait so long. And
mapping out those goals is such a good idea.
In mid-August 2022, post-pandemic and lockdown, Yolanda
returned to begin a new semester in person and adapted well to
university, enjoying taking classes where she found the instructors
were “more like friends,” whereas previously she felt “super scared and
nervous when talking with the instructors and the sta.”
I think taking class is quite interesting. e teachers are humorous.
When Iwas on the professional team, Ihad a passive attitude
toward everything. e coaches always pushed me. Icannot say how
much knowledge I got during this period. Now Iam back on
campus, Ind that the excellent teachers never push students in
class and yet weare eager to learn from them.
As part of supporting Yolanda’s transition to full-time school, the
SPP occasionally shared some of her own experiences of attending
university in China and then her graduate education abroad, inspiring
Yolanda to broaden her vision.
What youtalked to me about is not only helpful in sport but also in
life, such as your experiences over the years. Ihave neither seen nor
considered many things that youtalked with me. Iso like to talk
with youand wish Icould go abroad to know the world. Iamwilling
to listen to your advice and try my best.
In summary, the working relationship between the SPP and
Yolanda developed substantially over the 18 months. In the beginning
the focus of work was on learning and practicing a variety of
psychological skills for both training sessions and game situations. As
the trust and rapport progressed between the two individuals, the
conversations and work together expanded to include discussions of
transition from professional sport and to becoming a fulltime
university student and student-athlete.
4 Discussion
In this case study, weexplored the working relationship between
a SPP in sport psychology and an athlete, how that relationship
evolved over an 18-month period, and how it facilitated the learning
processes of the athlete.
In beginning, this athlete was primarily motivated by an
opportunity to attend a good university and playing volleyball was her
entry point. As work with the SPP progressed, she began to enjoy her
sporting experience and to understand how developing psychological
skills and learning about herself could help her performance in both
training and competition.
Certainly, it took time for the SPP to build rapport with this
athlete. is was accomplished, in part, by the SPP living in the
training environment, consistently attending practices and games, and
engaging with the athlete on a regular basis over more than a year. In
the beginning, the sessions were focused on teaching the critical skills
needed for sport performance and then slowly evolved into
conversations and work that helped the athlete learn how to reect on
the demands of her sport and her increasing interest in future
education and a career outside of sport.
In addition to rapport, trust was built between the SPP and athlete
by the skills the SPP brought to the setting and her perspective – a
keen desire to understand the athlete, a willingness to listen to her
concerns and questions, an understanding of the importance of
condentiality, and an ability to create an environment of empathetic
understanding of the athlete’s world. e latter points to what Rogers
(1961), many years ago, intended by the notion of person-centered
therapy. ese results also support the more recent research of Tod
etal. (2022) that notes a number of critical practices of eective SPPs,
such as building rapport, developing a relationship based on openness,
and operating well in the athlete’s context. It also reminds us of the
much earlier work of Orlick and Partington (1988) which emphasized
the importance, for SPPs, of active listening, presence, and empathy.
As the working relationship developed, the SPP was willing to
allow the athlete to lead in the sessions and direct what was discussed
and worked on. is evolution in the relationship speaks to what is
perhaps required for those working in a high-performance sport
environment as SPPs. In this study, it is clear that a skilled SPP needs
to beable to understand the benets of combining both a directive
approach in teaching specic psychological skills and a less directive
and more collaborative approach, allowing an athlete to begin to learn
how to guide their own learning. Nevertheless, determining when and
how to combine these two approaches would bedependent on a
number of factors, such as the maturity and experience of each athlete.
In reecting on the learning processes illustrated in this case study,
weare able to see how this particular athlete engaged with and learned the
psychological skills over a competitive season, how she matured, and what
she found personally meaningful. As Moon (2004) suggested,
“‘meaningfulness’ is an individual judgment” (p. 18). In Moon’s theory of
learning, meaning is created by the learner both through what she calls
“material of learning” (Moon, 2004, p. 19), which in this case was the PST
program and learning how to reect on both the material being presented
and her own experiences. Moon (2004) suggests that reection is “oen a
process of re-organizing knowledge and emotional orientations in order
to achieve future insights” (p. 82). In the case illustrated in the present
research, this process was enabled by each interaction and conversation
with the SPP in each of the sessions through teaching, listening, asking
questions, and listening again. is athlete began to move from an
individual who reected very little on her training, to someone who began
to understand, appreciate, and act on a regular process of planning,
executing as best she could, in training and games, and debrieng and
reecting on her training, and eventually her life more broadly.
Finally, what occurred over time in this working relationship was a
discussion about transitioning out of sport and it is well known that this
process is rarely easy for athletes who have devoted much of their early life
to sport (Werthner and Orlick, 1986; Li etal., 2022). Yolanda was initially
unaware of how she might create a life outside of sport due, at least in part,
to her limited experience in education and managing her own life. As
work with the SPP progressed, Yolanda was able to think more deeply
about her life, learn to enjoy her university life, and commit to pursuing

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Frontiers in Psychology 08 frontiersin.org
her education. is work reminds us that the eld of sport psychology is
not just about sport performance but also about helping athletes develop
a healthy life in and aer sport (Zhang etal., 2013, 2019).
5 Limitations and future directions
ere are three potential limitations of this research. A limitation of
the qualitative descriptive design is its lack of a strong theoretical
framework and its primarily descriptive nature, which may result in a
potential lack of nuance in the ndings (Neergaard etal., 2009). However,
it is argued the descriptive design aligns well with the purpose of the
present case study, where the aim was to explore the working relationship
between a SPP and an athlete and how it may have facilitated the learning
experiences of a Chinese volleyball player throughout a PST program. A
second potential limitation is that the interviews and consulting work
were conducted in mandarin Chinese and then translated into English.
ere is always a concern that subtleties might be missed in any
translation and as a result, a reverse translation, also known as “back
translation” was also conducted, which involves, in this case, translating
the English text back into mandarin Chinese. However, no issues were
found. Finally, given the rst author conducted both the PST program and
the interviews, a third potential limitation is the possibility that the athlete
might have been inclined to emphasize the positive aspects of her
experience throughout the working relationship.
ere are a number of studies exploring Chinese athletes’ experiences
of PST (Wang and Zhang, 2015), mental health (Si etal., 2021), and career
transition and life skill development (Zhang etal., 2017; Li etal., 2022;
Zhu et al., 2022). e present research illustrates how a working
relationship was developed and contributed to developing the learning
processes of an athlete, within the context of the Chinese sport system. It
is suggested that future research could explore how SPPs in dierent
cultures or contexts can eectively facilitate the learning process for both
sport performance and transition out of sport.
6 Conclusion
In conclusion, this case study illustrates a working relationship
between a SPP and an athlete and how that relationship, in turn, facilitated
the learning processes utilized by this player as she prepared
psychologically for the demands of her sport and her life. e case also
helps us understand that an athlete can play an integral role in her own
learning. e SPP certainly created a PST program, which in Moon’s
generic view of learning could beconsidered the “bricks of knowledge”
(2004, p. 16) and yet, with the SPP’s facilitative and empathetic skills, also
enabled the athlete to learn how to reect on and learn from her day-to-day
experiences. As a result, her sport skills improved and she was becoming
a more mature athlete and individual. e athlete progressed from an
individual who reected very little to an individual who began to
appreciate and act on her own understanding of the importance of
planning, executing as best she could in training and games, and debrieng
and reecting on her training, and eventually her life more broadly.
Data availability statement
e raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will
bemade available by the authors, without undue reservation.
Ethics statement
e studies involving humans were approved by University of
Calgary/ Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board. e studies were
conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional
requirements. e participants provided their written informed
consent to participate in this study.
Author contributions
XZ: Writing – original dra, Conceptualization, Formal analysis,
Investigation, Methodology. MR: Methodology, Writing – review &
editing. PW: Super vision, Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization,
Methodology.
Funding
e author(s) declare that no nancial support was received for
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Conflict of interest
e authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or nancial relationships that could
beconstrued as a potential conict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of their aliated organizations,
or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product
that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its
manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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