Self-Talk in Sports

Self-Talk

• Internal dialogue athletes have with themselves before, during, or after performance
• A multidimensional concept which involves verbalizations addressed to oneself, serving both instructional and motivational functions.
• Can reflect organic, spontaneous, or goal-directed cognitive processes.
• Conveys messages that activate responses through predetermined cues, strategically developed for performance outcomes.

Dimensions of Self-Talk

• Self-determined: assigned (given to participant, better for younger athletes) or natural (freely generated, more connection)
• Verbalization: internal (small voice in head) or external (said out loud, typically under pressure)
• Valence: positive or negative; positive ST helps and negative ST doesn't really help or harm either
• Pre-competition = more positive self-talk than pre-practice
• Direction: motivating or demotivating; self-talk is interpreted as more motivating pre-competition vs. pre-practice
• Positively correlated w/ valence dimension
• Intensity: Degree to which self-talk affects athlete motivation Present dimension = How much ST affects athletes motivation, regardless of direction
• Frequency: As self-talk frequency increases, performance and effort increase

Strategic vs. Organic Self-Talk

• Strategic self-talk: Uses cue words to improve learning and performance by activating appropriate responses.
• Cues are instructional or motivational, employed before or during motor skill performance.
• Organic self-talk: Inherent thoughts and self-statements.
• Includes spontaneous (unintended statements related to the activity) and goal-directed (controlled process for problem-solving) types.

Instructional vs. Motivational Self-Talk

• Instructional self-talk: Used for skill development, execution, strategy, and performance improvement.
• Motivational self-talk: Used for mastery (focus/confidence), arousal (psyching up/relaxing), and drive (goal-related/effort control).

Recommendations for Self-Talk

• Use cue words or abbreviated phrases selected by the athlete.
• Consider athlete interpretation of positive/negative self-talk
• Match function to desired outcome, practice often, and combine with imagery.
• Be cautious with the "more is better" approach.

Techniques to Reduce Harmful Self-Talk

• Thought stopping: stopping negative thoughts
• Changing negative to positive thoughts
• Cognitive restructuring

Attentional Control

• Attention: Multidimensional, limited resource involving selective processing of specific information.
• Selective attention: Tuning in certain information while tuning out other stimuli, focusing on the most relevant information.

Assessing Selective Attention

• Temporal occlusion: Examines how much time people take to select the info they need to respond
• Event occlusion: Examines which characteristics of the performance people use to make a correct response

Two-Dimensional Model

• Direction of attention (internal or external)
• Task relevance (relevant or irrelevant)

Stimulus, Sensation, and Perception

• Stimulus: Environmental energy that produces a response by an organism.
• Sensation: Process by which environmental energy is transformed into neural activity (physiological).
• Perception: Process by which sensory information is organized and interpreted (psychological).
  • Based on previous experiences.

Absolute and Difference Threshold

• Absolute threshold: Minimal amount of stimulus needed to detect a sensation.
• Difference threshold: Degree to which two stimuli must differ to be perceived as distinct.

Attention Simulation Training

• Replicates attention-demanding situations found in competition.
• Practice working on two tasks simultaneously is important for optimal performance.

Performance Routines

• Performance routines: Set sequence of thoughts and actions before key skills.
• Pre-event routines: Fixed thoughts and actions leading up to competition.
• Pre-performance routines: Fixed thoughts and actions immediately before executing a skill.
• Routines encourage focus on task-relevant information and remaining in the present.

Attentional Cues

• Attentional cues: Words and actions that direct attention.
• Verbal: Words repeated at appropriate moments.
• Visual: Focusing on something in the surroundings.
• Physical: Performing an action, like taking a deep breath.

Choking

• Defined as an acute decrease in skill execution and performance under pressure when standards are normally achievable.

Conditions Leading to Choking

• Important competition, critical plays, evaluation.

Attentional Changes During Choking

• Internal focus, narrow focus, reduced flexibility.

Performance Impairments

• Breakdown of timing and coordination, muscle tightness, rushing, inability to attend to task-relevant cues.

Physical Changes During Choking

• Increased muscle tension, breathing rate, and heart rate.

Distraction and Self-Focus

• Distraction: Attending to task-irrelevant cues, like crowds or worrying about the score.
• Self-focus: Allocating conscious attention to movement execution, which interferes with automaticity.

Interventions for Choking

• Pre-performance routines, quiet eye training, left-hand contractions.

Improving Concentration

• Learning to shift and maintain attention, "parking" thoughts, rehearsing concentration, and searching for relevant cues.

Focusing Strategies

• Dissociative: distract from pain and stress
• Used in comp and training by rec/non-elite athletes; used in training by elite
• Associative: bodily input, pace, competitors, cue words related to competition, avoid "pain zones"
• Used in comp by elite
• Performance routines, mindfulness

Leadership

• Leadership: Behavioral processes through which one person influences others toward a goal

Leader Characteristics

• Confidence, knowledgeable, assertive, approachable, ethical, positive, empathetic/caring
• Higher extraversion, conscientiousness, openness; lower neuroticism

Formal vs. Informal Leadership

• Formal leadership: Coach, teacher, team captain, referee, trainer
• Informal leadership: Veterans, older athletes, roles (shooter, rebounder), starters

Multidimensional Model of Leadership (MML)

• Emphasizes contributions of situational, athlete, and leader characteristics
• Considers athlete satisfaction and performance
• Effective leadership: Athletes are satisfied and maximize their potential

Leadership Behaviors

• Required behaviors: What the situation demands from leader
• Preferred behaviors: What the athletes want from their leader
• Actual behaviors: What the coach actually does in real situations

Full Range Model of Leadership

• Laissez-faire leadership: Indifference, non-leadership
• Transactional leadership: Exchanges based on rewards
  • Management by exception: Active and passive
  • Contingent reward: Providing rewards for task completion
• Transformational leadership: Inspires others beyond self-interests
  • Idealized influence: Role models demonstrating values
  • Inspirational motivation: Vision of the future and high expectations
  • Intellectual stimulation: Independent thinking and questioning assumptions
  • Individualized consideration: Attending to individual needs with empathy

Leader Interaction Styles

• Task oriented: Satisfaction from group performance.
• Person oriented: Satisfaction from interpersonal relationships.

Strong Followership

• Collective orientation, active independent thinking, transparency, receptivity to viewpoints.

Leadership Scales and Functions

• Exercise leaders: Use names, give attention and feedback, recognize efforts.
• General functions of athlete leaders
  • Persistence, aggressive play, willingness to do small tasks, democratic communication, motivation through actions, courage, emotional control

Youth Sport Objectives

• Provide physical activity opportunities.
• Promote personal development (psychological skills).
• Facilitate motor skill learning and performance.

Youth Sport: Roles of Parents

• Set boundaries, limit screen time, encourage outdoor activities.
• Find out what child enjoys

Relative Age Effect

• Athletes born earlier in the selection year are more likely to be selected and succeed than those born later.

Leisure Activities and Initiative

• Relaxed leisure activities: Enjoyable but not demanding (watching TV).
• Constructive leisure activities: Enjoyable, requiring sustained effort (sports, music).
• Constructive leisure activities foster initiative development.

Qualities Promoting Initiative Development

• Intrinsically motivating, involves attention to goals, occurs over time.

Setting Features for Youth Programs

• Physical and psychological safety, appropriate structure, supportive relationships, opportunities to belong, positive norms, support for efficacy, skill building, and integration of family, school, and community efforts.

Developmental Assets

• Building blocks for human development; external (support) and internal (commitment to learning).
• The more developmental assets an adolescent possesses, the greater is their likelihood of developing in a positive and healthy manner

Stress-Induced Burnout

• Caused by specializing at a young age, long practice hours, parental pressure, overuse injuries, high travel demands.

Characteristics of Kids at Risk for High Comp State Anxiety

• Outcome goal oriented, frequent worries about failure and expectations, less perceived fun.

Dealing with Stressed Children

• Use concrete and fun strategies, use role models.
• Time for concern: Child permanently withdraws, has no choice in decision, or withdrawal has negative effects.

The C's of Positive Youth Development

• Competence, character, connection, confidence, caring.

3 P's Framework - Youth Sport Inclusions

• Participation, personal development, and performance.

Framework Implementation

• Adopt an inclusive focus, promote a true competition climate, encourage initiative and fun, promote psychosocial development.

Deliberate Play vs. Deliberate Practice

• Deliberate play: Maximizes enjoyment, flexible rules, focus on behavior itself.
• Deliberate practice: Requires effort, improves performance, motivated by improvement rather than enjoyment.

Sport Specialization

• Focused participation in a sport for most of the year, restricting other activities.

Early Specialization

• Can lead to dropout, overuse injuries, and failure to develop transferable skills.
• May produce elite performers in sports achieved before puberty through high amounts of deliberate practice and low amounts of deliberate play

Potential Benefits and Costs of Sport Specialization

• Benefits: Sport-specific skills.
• Costs: Injuries, reduced health, lack of diverse experiences, increased stress, potential for parental pressure, drop out, burnout.

Impact of Coaches

• Major adult influence, shape competence beliefs, personal development Coaching effectiveness includes
  • Consistent application of integrated pro, interpersonal, and intrapersonal knowledge to improve athletes’ competence, confidence, connection, and character in specific coaching contexts

Coaching Contexts and Assets

• Includes sport settings and athlete assets (5 C’s: competence, character, connection, confidence, caring).
• Experiencing acceptance and affiliation results in increased connection, belonging, self-esteem, and motivation.

Parental Effectiveness

• Focus on motivation and behavior, parental support, expectations, and modeling.

Psychological Needs for Young Athletes

• Emotional, informational, tangible support, and companionship.

True Competition vs. Decompetition

• True competition: Competitive situations serve all participants.
• Decompetition: Athletes seek to demonstrate superiority.

Best Practices for Youth Sport Programs

• Adopt inclusivity, promote true competition, encourage athlete initiative, provide fun and playfulness, promote psychosocial development.

Coaching Psychology: Knowledge

• Coaches knowledge refers to:
  • Professional knowledge for sport-specific skills
  • Interpersonal knowledge to establish and cultivate relationships
  • Intrapersonal knowledge to revise coaching strategies

CAC

• Coaching Association of Canada
• Created in 1970
• Mission is to provide the foundation of skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to ensure effective coaching leadership for Canadian athletes

###NCCP

• National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP)
• Meets the needs of all coaches, from beginner to experienced
• Through a series of courses, workshops, and mentorship programs
• Trains and certifies coaches in 66 sports, of which 5 are disability sport specific
• First widely adopted national coach education program in the world
• Competency based
• Sport specific
• 3 training streams

Training Streams

• community sport
• Focuses on broad-based participation @ introductory levels of sport
• Coaches are instructed to introduce sport for fun, to develop skills, and to foster social interaction and lifelong participation
• competition
• Focuses on skill development for participation in competitive contexts
• Coaches are instructed in all areas of athlete training, including physical, technical, tactical and mental
• instruction
• Focuses on skill proficiency in non-comp situations

###Competencies

• 5 coaching competencies:
• Problem solving
• Valuing and Ethical decisions
• Critical thinking/Analyze performance
• Leading
• Interacting /Provide support

###UK Coaching Framework Initiative that was designed to enhance the quality of coaching at all levels and to help the UK become a world leader in coaching development ###Mentorship characteristics

• Help coaches shape their personal coaching style and philosophy through positive role modeling and communication
• A good mentor will…
• Help identify and explore coaching style
• Facilitate the acquisition of new techniques
• Provide constructive feedback

###Acquiring Coaching Knowledge

• Volunteering, gaining experience, interacting with peers, observing coaches, studying kinesiology, attending clinics, reading coaching books.

###Coach Effectiveness Training (CET)

• Children playing for trained coaches had increased self-esteem, less anxiety, more enjoyment, and better team evaluations. Trained coaches reinforced effort, gave encouragement, established expectations, and fostered communication.

###Coaching Approaches

• Create a healthy climate and use positive reinforcement
• Establish norms emphasizing support
• Include athletes in decision-making
• Engage in self-monitoring.

###Coaching Styles/Approaches Recommend for working w masters athletes, _Considering the individuality of adult athletes

• Creating personalized programming
• Framing learning situations
• Imparting coaching knowledge
• Respecting athletes’ preferences for effort, accountability, and feedback

Effective Coach Traits

• Proactive and reflective, always looking for new ways to learn, develop and improve effectiveness.

Coaching Efficacy

Defined as the extent to which coaches believe they have the capacity to affect the learning and performance of their athletes four key dimensions:

• Game strategy
• Motivation
• Technique
• Character building

###3 + 1 Cs Model Closeness, Commitment, Complementarity + Co-orientation defined as...

• Closeness → emotional element / a mutual feeling of trust, respect, and liking for one another
• Commitment → cognitive element / thoughts of attachment to one another and their intentions of maintaining their relationship
• Complementarity → behavioural element / the cooperative interactions between player and coaching during training or comp
• Co-orientation → degree of symbiosis / sharing similar interests, goals, and knowledge in the other three constructs

###Athlete-centered Coaching

• Athlete-centered Coaching : Involves holistic growth and development / increased sport engagement, communication, competence, and motivation
• coaching model, mental model, 3 peripheral components

###Coaching Stressors

• Athletes’ injury, athletes underperforming, negative attitudes towards training, parents, career transitions, isolation, communication, job security, expectations of others.

###Aging and PA

• Greater quality of life & Average life expectancy/Morbidity Physical literacy → motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life

###Determinants

• Demographic and biological factors: age and gender - males more active than females
• Socioeconomic status and educational level higher socioeconomic status = more active
• Behavioural attributes: Patterns of lifespan behaviour
• Social and cultural factors: Behaviour expectations rooted in cultural beliefsWomen and cultural barriers
• Psychological, cognitive and emotional factors Enjoyment/Perceived health and fitness

The Benefits of PA on Health

• reduce poor health outcomes/ cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancers, dyslipidemia, fratility, arthritis, social isolation, cognitive decline, reduced muscle mass, increased sarcopenia
• Primary aging/Secondary aging

###Maintaining Skill

• The Compensation Model; suggests that skilled performers strategically compensate for a decline in one skill area by developing or improving in another
• The Selective Maintenance Model expert performance in skilled domains is maintained in very specific capacities/appropriate attention and focus on deliberate practice
• Cognitive and motor skills are more resistant than physiological factors Training volume and content

###Masters Athletes

• Routinely participate in high levels of PADefies stereotypical views of aging/First World Masters Games To be physically fit/Meet new friends Gaining additional meaning in their lives
• Older athletes have greater muscle mass, strength, power, less psychological distress, and greater memory capacities than those who don’t compete in sport
• • successful aging is the attainment of three components
• absence of chronic disease maintenance of cognitive and physical functioning
• active engagement w life

###Barriers

• Health problems/Lack of knowledge or confidence
• Fear of falling or injury/Time constraints
• Access difficulties/Cost -Apathy or fatigue

###Motivators

• Improve or maintain current health status/Purposeful or enjoyable activities
• Social support /Music
• • older adults who had more positive expectations of aging were more likely to practice preventitive health behaviours

###Mental Health

• Mental health/Mental illness/Physical activity/Exercise
• PA may prevent mental illness
• Exercise has been examined as a treatment or therapy for existing mental illness
• PA may improve the quality of life for people w chronic physical or mental health problems
• PA may improve mental health of general public

Benefits of PA: Prevention

• Prevents onset of depression through increased self-esteem
• Lack of PA is correlated with likelihood of depression

###Treatment

• Exercise & clinical depression/ Anhedonia/5 of the following symptoms Loss of appetite Weight gain/loss Sleep disturbance Decreased energy Psychomotor retardation Sense of worthlessness Guilt Concentration problems Thoughts of suicide

Exercise - Depression Treatment

• Depression is reduced with more PA
• Beneficial effects occur with all types/aerobic is the best though
• Intensity is more positive though/ Combo of exercise + psychotherapy may be the best approach though **

Quality of Life

• Affect/Sedentary Behaviour /BDNF/Monoamine/Distraction hypothesis

###Sedentary Behaviors

• defined as any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure of less than or equal to 1.5 metabolic equivalents while in a sitting or reclining position - sedentary behavior and mental healtPositive relations with depressive symptoms

###Body Image

• Self presentation: process by which individuals attempt to monitor and control the impressions others form of them /Impression management

###Three related beliefs: Self-presentational efficacy expectancy Self-presentational outcome expectancy Self-presentational outcome value

• Self presentation can influence
• Motivation to participate/ Choice of activity and setting/Effort and exertion/Affective responses to exercise participation
• Motivating influences/Demotivating influences - Social comparison theoryDownward social comparison/Upward social comparison discrepnacy, ideals

###Body Image

• Actual discrepancy / when people perceive their current state is discrepant w their ideal state occurs when individuals perceive their current state is discrepant w the state they feel they should be in Multidimensional construct the thoughts, feelings, behaviours
• Affective dimension of body image: body-related feelings and emotions that an individual experiences

###Anxiety

• Social anxiety happens when people want to make specific impressions, but are unsure they will be successful _ Social physique anxiety: anxiety a person experiences as a result of perceived or actual judgements from others /women tend to score higher / decrease w age
• Individualized feedback
• Dark side of exercise:Exercise dependence//Disordered eating//Performance-enhancing drugs//Physique-enhancing supplements Positive addiction/Negati
• Self handicapping: excuses due to worried about image
• Social loafing: spa prevents partaking in activities or pe classes

Sport Component Anxiety

-Don’t want to leave image that they are a bad athlete

###Eating Disorders

• Abnormal eating habitsOccur in people who want a sense of control bc they can control their eating habitsOccurs in aesthetic sports to maintain a certain weight or look, most are girls

####Three models Tripartite influence model of body image/Popular theory/Integrates sociocultural factors + Positive embodiment has been shown to promote positive body image /care and non judgement + Sport and exercise as risk factors: + Positive and negative outcomes of youth sport in areas of health, psychological development and social development + Coaching behaviours associated w development of 5 Cs

###PA Interventions

• Suggests attitude and subjective norm dont directly control behaviour, they go through intention first/Perceived behavioural control directly influences behaviours Genetics

Psychological factors - think abt how individual thinks abt exercise + Social factors - how society sees social setting and human interactions + Program factors + Socioeconomic/Environmental factors

Model Characteristics

Stages of change + Decisional balance/Self-efficacy + Stages involved in behaviour change is important

###Techniques and Model Goal for all areas is to reduce the barriers of change + Use/match the/Intervention/Techniques in motivational interviewing