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The Pre-competition and Competition Practices of Canadian Aboriginal Elite Athletes
Abstract
This study was designed to elucidate the pre-competition and competition practices of elite Canadian Aboriginal athletes. Elite Canadian Aboriginal athletes ( N = 23) participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were segmented into meaning units by academic and Aboriginal community-appointed members, and verified with each respondent individually through mail and a password-protected website. Competition tactics were divided into three chronological stages, each with specific athlete strategies: (a) general training before competitions, (b) pre-competition week, and (c) competition strategies. The majority of the numerous strategies they reported could be considered as reflecting native traditions, appropriate attitudes/perspective, or standard sport psychology techniques. Suggestions are proposed for applied researchers and practitioners working with cultural populations, as well as how these strategies might be developed for use with other populations.
... In terms of the role communities play in athletes' religious and spiritual identities, psychologists should consider harnessing relevant community resources available to athletes. Within the CSP literature, researchers and practitioners have found this to be important in the context of working with Canadian Aboriginal athletes (see, e.g., Schinke et al., 2007), and providing support to Indigenous athletes from New Zealand (see Hodge, Sharp, & Heke, 2011). Watson and Czech (2005) noted that "when dealing with religious athletes, another important consideration for the sport psychology consultant is the question of professional boundaries" (p. ...
... Schank & Skovholt, 2006). Members of the community may seek them out for religious or spiritual support because of their interactions in the community (see Hodge et al., 2011;Ikulayo & Semidara, 2011;Schinke et al., 2007). In the context of providing support to Canadian Aboriginal athletes, Schinke et al. (2007) noted that the question of how strategies are developed and integrated should reflect the preferences of the athlete in relation to his or her cultural identity. ...
... Members of the community may seek them out for religious or spiritual support because of their interactions in the community (see Hodge et al., 2011;Ikulayo & Semidara, 2011;Schinke et al., 2007). In the context of providing support to Canadian Aboriginal athletes, Schinke et al. (2007) noted that the question of how strategies are developed and integrated should reflect the preferences of the athlete in relation to his or her cultural identity. When discussing implications for cultural praxis, the authors concluded that "to discern the best practice mental and spiritual strategies for Canadian Aboriginal elite athletes requires an awareness of who the athlete is (family and community of origin included) and who he or she is becoming" (p. ...
... Canadian Aboriginal athletes often experience the above mentioned adaptation challenges that have exemplifi ed the need for a culturally sensitive and relevant motivational approach to sport psychology practice (termed a cultural sport psychology or CSP). CSP services in some cases can be provided or facilitated by mainstream sport psychology consultants, either when athletes are acculturated (see Kontos and Breland-Noble 2002 for a review) or when mainstream services are sought out by the athlete Forsyth_Giles (Schinke, Hanrahan, et al. 2007). However, motivational support for Aboriginal athletes can (and often times should) come from cultural means, off ered by resources within Aboriginal communities, such as from elders, medicine people, and family members, as well as from local and national Aboriginal sport service providers (Schinke, Eys, et al. 2006). ...
... To be sure, some Aboriginal athletes represent (and are represented by) communities where traditional Aboriginal cultural practices are prevalent in daily life. For example, during his encounters with athletes from remote communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Rob noticed that some of the athletes smudged each day, used bundles, and sought the advice of elders and medicine people when they experienced motivational challenges in training and onsite at competitions (Schinke, Hanrahan, et al. 2007). Th ese athletes talked about the predicaments they faced when trying to deal with the many unfamiliar cultural practices they encountered in mainstream sport, such as working with formally trained coaches who employed a structured approach to sport and who relied heavily on technical drills for training. ...
... Historically and today, sacred medicine plays a signifi cant role in maintaining health and spirituality. Even in sport it is not uncommon for Aboriginal athletes to off er prayers to the Creator by smudging (burning tobacco, sage, or sweetgrass) at the beginning and end of each day (Schinke, Hanrahan, et al. 2007). We found that when enculturated Aboriginal athletes encountered a challenge in training or competition, and the challenge could not be overcome through personal strategies, they often sought the assistance of medicine people or elders to help them work past the challenge. ...
... The year was 1998 and our first author was working with a national team in preparation for an international sporting event. Among its racial diversity (see Schinke et al., 2007) 75 there were several Canadian Aboriginal athletes, male and female. These athletes pursued their elite sport careers in a time when at very least in Canadian sport, racial identities were rarely discussed, and certainly not centralized in national sport organizations (see Brant et al., 2002). ...
... Confounded in this obstructive process, sport psychology was identified as uncommon and, in some instances, misaligned with the cultural practices found in more traditional Canadian Aboriginal Reserves. Within such cases, that role was being subsumed by elders, who are spiritual guides, motivational drummers, and medicine people (see Schinke et al., 2007), each 155 having a unique role that maps onto content sport psychology consultants typically allocate to counselling and mental training. Hence, we found that sport psychology services can be performance enhancing for some athletes, though providers can inadvertently perpetuate sport environments that tend to silence cultural identities and cultural norms, blocking the possibility of sport as a positive developmental process (see Schinke,160 Stambulova, Lidor, Papaioannou, & Ryba, 2016). ...
... The year was 1998 and our first author was working with a national team in preparation for an international sporting event. Among its racial diversity (see Schinke et al., 2007) 75 there were several Canadian Aboriginal athletes, male and female. These athletes pursued their elite sport careers in a time when at very least in Canadian sport, racial identities were rarely discussed, and certainly not centralized in national sport organizations (see Brant et al., 2002). ...
... Confounded in this obstructive process, sport psychology was identified as uncommon and, in some instances, misaligned with the cultural practices found in more traditional Canadian Aboriginal Reserves. Within such cases, that role was being subsumed by elders, who are spiritual guides, motivational drummers, and medicine people (see Schinke et al., 2007), each 155 having a unique role that maps onto content sport psychology consultants typically allocate to counselling and mental training. Hence, we found that sport psychology services can be performance enhancing for some athletes, though providers can inadvertently perpetuate sport environments that tend to silence cultural identities and cultural norms, blocking the possibility of sport as a positive developmental process (see Schinke,160 Stambulova, Lidor, Papaioannou, & Ryba, 2016). ...
There are varied approaches that have been used in sport for development (SFD) projects. This article is focused on the move by sport and exercise psychology researchers toward community-based SFD projects where marginalized groups are centralized. The authors have chosen two of their projects to exemplify different approaches to SFD. An initial project with an Aboriginal community is critically examined to reveal cultural missteps that perpetuated cultural colonization–something antithetical to community capacity building. The second project is then considered because of its closer alignment with cultural praxis and community capacity building. This second project focuses on the initial developments of a YMCA physical activity project designed to meet the needs of forced immigrants (a self-titled name developed by the refugee community members) and the staff who work with them. We culminate with five postulates proposed for SFD project teams derived from our vantage in sport and exercise psychology, where community engagement and eventual self-governance are imperatives.
... It reflects a summarised account of community members' experiences engaging in research with mainstream academics and includes some initial recommendations for future researchers (though the recommendations will be delineated in depth in a forthcoming paper). The narrative is relevant within the Aboriginal community, as stories are a traditional means of passing on history, values, experiences and teachings; they provide an opportunity for vicarious learning to take place (Schinke et al. 2007). The current vignette is a story that serves to reinforce Wikwemikong co-researchers' standpoint regarding collaborative research with mainstream academics. ...
... Pushing further beyond the sport psychology domain, the current work adds to the Indigenous research literature through the development of the community vignette, as it reflects a unique methodology. The narrative strategy was particularly relevant within the current study as stories are a traditional means of passing on knowledge within the Aboriginal culture (Schinke et al. 2007). Through group discussions during a community meeting, the co-researchers collectively drafted the vignette to reflect their standpoint. ...
When attempting to work with people from Indigenous cultures, mainstream researchers often encounter cultural differences, mistrust and a general resistance to community research. These challenges have emerged within the sport psychology domain as a consequence of mono‐cultural, Eurocentric research paradigms, which have marginalised Indigenous populations and disconnected community members from their traditional teachings and values. The current project was developed out of a partnership among mainstream academics and Aboriginal community members in northern Ontario, Canada, who have been engaged in sport psychology co‐researching activities for six years. The purpose of the current study was to elicit Aboriginal community members’ reflections of engaging in research with mainstream academics, based on past experiences as well as more recent efforts among the current bicultural team. The overarching intent was to encourage mainstream researchers interested in working within the Aboriginal community to adopt culturally reflexive practices that are meaningful from the local standpoint and to resist traditional mono‐cultural approaches. Conversational interviews were employed with nine Aboriginal community members who were also engaged as co‐researchers throughout the project. The community co‐researchers delineated negative and positive research experiences and outlined the specific strategies that contributed to each. A community composite vignette was developed as a narrative supplement to the data and reflects a unique and culturally relevant process within the study.
This chapter introduces spirituality in sport and discusses the ways in which it could be integrated into research and practice in sport coaching. After outlining the key concepts, literature on spirituality in sport is presented which can be roughly categorised into three interrelated themes: (1) Peak experiences, flow and transcendence in sport, (2) mental skills and competition routines, and (3) sport and life meaning. The chapter concludes with some directions for future research and implications for applied practice.
Sport psychology researchers have increasingly recognized the need to adopt a holistic perspective when seeking to understand athletes’ adaptation to life transitions. The present study sought to understand how religion influences athletes’ journeys in sport and experiences of life transitions. Two Christian elite athletes participated in life story interviews which we analyzed via narrative analysis. Although the participants narratively separated religious belief from sport, religion, as a source of basic world assumptions and values, provided a broader framework of meaning and continuity in their sport lives. Yet, both stories involved a growing distance to institutional religious practices and movement towards individualized religiosity as they traversed cultural and developmental transitions. For applied practitioners, it is important to be aware of the unique ways in which religion influences the sport life and to recognize personal and cultural attitudes that will shape their applied work with religious athletes.
Despite the growing literature on spirituality and its positive impact on wellbeing in health psychology, education, occupational psychology and leisure studies, it has been less examined in sport studies. Meaning and Spirituality in Sport and Exercise: Psychological Perspectives examines the many forms of spirituality in sport from a psychological perspective, from moments of transcendence and finding deeper meaning and value to prayer before an important competition or adversity such as career-threatening injury
While behavioral differences in sport throughout the world are mainly attributed to sociological matters, various psychological issues shape the mind sets of athletes from different cultures. It is the way in which the individual's behavior reflects and is affected by different cultures that is the focus of this chapter. Cultural sport psychology provides much insight for coaches, athletes, and sport psychology practitioners to interact effectively with people throughout the world. Presently, cultural sport psychology research has largely been based on cultural awareness and understanding in order to improve the exchanges between people from different cultures. But the theoretical implications and psychological perspectives of how cultural differences evolve and the effects they have on the individual have not been fully addressed. What follows in this chapter is a theoretical approach from psychology to examining cultural influences on human behavior. Various concepts and psychological mechanisms such as identity, motivation, group dynamics, collectivism, individualism, self-complexity, and self-concept will be discussed. In the past, cross-cultural studies were generally viewed as a subcomponent of mainstream psychology and were generally not included in the literature. Today, however, cross-cultural studies report differences that are widespread, and make fundamental challenges to mainstream knowledge. Throughout history, a common thread ties much of this literature together, and that is its overwhelming concern with uncovering universal and culturally specific aspects of behavior. Newly discovered aspects will forge a path for cultural sport psychology to be integrated into mainstream psychology, shifting momentum in our thinking, and changing the way in which we study human behavior. We are already witness to these changes, as we are riding the wave of an evolution in sport psychology (Matsumoto, Weissman, Preston, Brown, & Kupperbusch, 1997; Schinke, Michel, Danielson, Gauthier, & Pickard, 2005). The evolution is critical because it strengthens existing connections among athletes and psychologists around the world, and develops new ways of cooperation among scholars and practitioners of sport psychology. The multidimensional roles of a sport psychology practitioner are to analyze, assess, explain, and direct various aspects of sport within the framework of psychological processes. According to the position statement of the European Federation of Sport Psychology (1996), the sport psychologist is interested in athletic well-being and augmenting human performance. This knowledge is then applied to either assessment or intervention. Application techniques such as talent detecting and cognitive testing in the former, and guidance and counseling in the latter. Sport psychologists study behavioral variations in athletes. Variations can be attributed to either individual differences such as personality dimensions, to environmental differences such as the social dynamics within the nature of the sport itself, or to cultural influences which not only have an impact on behavior, but may explain and predict it as well. Within the framework of cultural sport psychology, socio-cultural aspects of the athlete's environment need to be considered as a possible gateway leading to motivational skill refinement and revision (Schinke, Hanrahan, & Catina, 2009; Schinke, Michel, Danielson, Gauthier, & Pickard, 2005). Academic institutions that wish to incorporate multicultural training into the curricula of sport psychology students, and sport psychology practitioners can gain valuable insight by considering how socio-cultural factors shape the individual. A person's psychological shaping is a derivative of social contexts (Markus & Nurius, 1987). Simply put, one cannot be a self by one's self. In order to better understand different psychological mindsets of different athletes, an examination of the cultural basis of these psychological differences is necessary both within and across cultures. For example, Jasinskaja-Lahti, Liebkind, Jaakkola, and Reuter (2006) investigated the social support systems of different groups of immigrants and how variations of ethnic networks affected their well-being. Along with social support systems, myriad intermediary components are essential in transforming desire into action owing to the giant chasm that exists between elite athletes and their non elite counterparts. Dedication, persistence, self-regulation, optimism, mastery orientation, and the ability to endure the extreme pressure of elite competition are paramount to excellence in any sport. As one progresses in athletic skill level, one should never forget what it took to get there. Remember what it was like to think of sport endeavors as a beginner. The beginner's mind has many options, while the experts mind has few. It is in that beginner's mind where the theoretical implications of cultural sport psychology are grounded, and it is essentially the particular societal influences on the self-concept of athletes with which this chapter is governed.
Cultural sport psychology (CSP) is a recent attempt by researchers to better understand respondents from marginalized cultures. CSP research provides useful suggestions of how to work effectively with unique populations for coaches and sport science practitioners. This paper addresses the struggles and adaptation strategies of 23 (16 male, 7 female) elite Aboriginal Canadian athletes. National and international level athletes elicited from seven sport disciplines and three Canadian provinces were interviewed with a semistructured protocol. Indications are that Aboriginal Canadian athletes engage in two higher order types of adaptation: (a) self-adaptation and (b) adapted environment. The study was developed, analyzed, and coauthored with an Aboriginal community appointed research team. Implications, such as the use of ongoing reflective practice, are proposed for aspiring CSP sport researchers and practitioners.
This study included 235 Canadian Olympic athletes who participated in the 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo and Los Angeles. Individual interviews were carried out with 75 athletes and a questionnaire was completed by another 160 to assess their mental readiness for the Olympic Games and factors related to mental readiness. Common elements of success were identified, as well as factors that interfered with optimal performance at the Olympic Games. Statistically significant links were found between Olympic performance outcome and certain mental skills. This investigation assessed the level of mental readiness and mental control experienced by Canadian athletes at the 1984 Olympic Games. A large-scale study was undertaken involving 235 Canadian Olympians who participated in the 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo or Los Angeles. It was a two-stage study involving an interview sample and a questionnaire survey sample.
The purpose of this paper is to expand upon our earlier work (Fisher, Butryn, & Roper, 2003) which introduced the core concepts of cultural studies and their application to the field of sport psychology. More specifically, we provide: (a) a critique and interrogation of the dominant practices of academic sport psychology; (b) a discussion of how one locates oneself in the university in general and the athletic department in particular as a consultant and the ramifications of such locations; and (c) suggestions as to how three existing groups could be used by consultants to connect social justice and sport in ways that promote citizenship and democratic engagement for both student-athletes and consultants themselves. We remain hopeful that sport psychology serves as a potential site for such critique, interrogation, and ultimately, social change.
One of the challenges facing the field of applied sport psychology involves addressing the needs of athletes of various racial/ethnic backgrounds. An important step in facing this challenge is providing sport psychology graduate students with training in multicultural issues. A review of current models of sport psychology graduate training reveals a lack of emphasis on multicultural training. In this article we offer a description of multicultural training. We also provide a rationale for its inclusion in sport psychology programs and present several models and ideas for implementing multicultural training.
Smart Golf is a comprehensive approach to improving and scoring the mental game in golf. The five components are preparation, positive focusing (positive self-monitoring), plan, apply, and react. The acronym PAR summarizes the latter three components. A simple scoring system encourages golfers to self-monitor their use of the Smart Golf approach. In this preliminary evaluation of the efficacy of the approach, five experienced golfers (M years of playing = 17.8) participated in a 4-week seminar. Process measures indicated the extent to which participants used the approach. Outcome measures included golf scores at pre- and postintervention and at a 3-month follow-up. Psychological skills were also assessed at pre- and postintervention. Process analyses revealed that participants used the approach consistently during the seminar and follow-up period. All participants improved two critical psychological skills (emotional control and positive self-talk) as well as their average scores (at postintervention) and handicaps (at follow-up).
Recently, there has been an increased effort to establish multicultural training programs for consultants working with diverse athlete populations. Although several authors have suggested that one aspect of such training is the examination of one's biases related to race (Andersen, 1993; Martens, Mobley, & Zizzi, 2000), a systematic means of doing so has not yet been adequately discussed. In this article, I briefly discuss the field of whiteness studies, and the process of confronting what McIntosh (1988) has termed the "invisible knapsack of white privilege." I then present the results of a life-history interview with a white male consultant, in which we discussed his changing sense of racial awareness and how he views his own white racial identity and the privileges associated with it. Finally, I discuss the results of a three-way discussion between myself, the consultant, and an African-American graduate student in sport psychology and present a preliminary account of white privileges specific to the applied field.
There has been a plethora of social support literature targeting elite sport, as noted by Rees and Hardy (2004). This report adds an additional resource to the social support literature previously untouched: culture specific resources for Aboriginal populations. The present study was comprised of 23 national and international elite Canadian Aboriginal athletes (16 male, 7 female). The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews (Patton, 2002), developed, refined, and coauthored with an Aboriginal community appointed team. The results indicated that the Canadian Aboriginal elite athletes sought out support from eight different Aboriginal resources during their self-identified evolution. The role of cultural social support resources and types of assistance will be discussed in relation to each development stage. Implications are considered in terms of effective cultural service provision and research.