Sports Final Notes PDF

**[Group Cohesion and Team Dynamics:]** What is a team? - A group of individuals who must depend on and support one another to accomplish common goals - Interdependency - Goal commonality - A collective identity - Effectiveness of a group comes from: - Communic...

**[Group Cohesion and Team Dynamics:]** What is a team? - A group of individuals who must depend on and support one another to accomplish common goals - Interdependency - Goal commonality - A collective identity - Effectiveness of a group comes from: - Communication - Open communication strategies: - Providing opportunities for players to socialize - Dressing room design to create open space for communication - Encourage respectful discussion of dissenting ideas - Emphasize group goals versus personal goals - Decision-making - **Majority rule** is best because it allows for equal participation and power among group members - Be careful with groupthink! - Groupthink is most likely to occur when the group is highly cohesive (good or bad) - Group Cohesion - Tendency to stick together and remain united in the pursuit of goals and objectives - Dynamic process, multidimensional, attraction, commitment and involvement [Conceptual Model of Group Cohesion:] - Carron proposed that cohesion involves individual and group aspects. Each of these can be further divided into task and social cohesion - Individual Aspects: - Beliefs about the personal benefits of group membership - Group Aspects: - Beliefs about the group as a collective - Task Cohesion: - Extent to which the group works together - Social Cohesion: - Extent of liking among group members - **Group integration-task**: our team in united in trying to achieve its performance goal - **Group integration-social**: our team would like to spend time together in the off season - **Individual attraction to group-task**: I'm happy with my team's level of desire to win - **Individual attraction to group-social**: for me, this team is the most important social group to which I belong **Cohesion and Performance:** - Share a circular relationship -- cohesion leads to improved performance which leads to success and greater cohesion - Performance-to-cohesion relationship appears stronger than cohesion-to-performance relationship - Cohesion-performance relationship seems strongest for task cohesion - Better to able to work together than like each other - Increased time together & stability = higher cohesion - You need cohesion just as much as you need high task commitment **Correlates of Group Cohesion:** 1. [Environmental Factors] - Group size: smaller group=higher cohesion - Setting: factors that hold groups together are different for each team - Task: co-acting, mixed co-acting-interacting, interacting (different sports demand different degrees of cohesion / individual ability vs group productivity) 2. [Leadership Factors] - Behavior: training and instruction, social support, positive feedback - Decision Style: democratic decision style = higher in both task and social cohesion (open to decisions, transparent, but still in charge) - Transformational: needs of players, acceptance, high performance 3. [Team factors] - Collective Efficacy: shared perception in team's ability to succeed - Psychological Momentum: perception of team progression toward goals = higher levels of cohesion 4. [Personal/Athlete Factors] - Adherence: athletes will most likely return to a team with high cohesiveness - Effort: perception of high task cohesion = high effort - Sacrifice: individual sacrifice contributes to team task and social cohesion **Team Development:** 1. Linear Perspective (Tuckman & Jensen) - Forming -- first impressions, develop team structure - Storming -- resistance to leader, interpersonal conflict - Norming -- focus shifts to working together, respect and value each other - Performing -- high level of functioning, focus to achievement - Adjourning -- team disbands after competition 2. Cyclical (life cycle) Perspective - Birth, growth, death - Formation Testing the limits Expected behaviors & norms goal attainment dissolution of the team - Mostly for recreational teams (10-15 weeks) 3. Pendulum Perspective - Cohesion swings back and forth (not linear) - Dynamism of the Process - Preparing for competition = cohesion **Group Roles:** behaviors required or expected of a person occupying a certain position - Formal: dictated by the nature and structure of the organization (coach, captain...) - Informal: evolve from the group's dynamics or interactions among group members (enforcer, mediator...) - Role clarity and acceptance are crucial for team success **Group Norms:** level of performance, patterns of behavior and beliefs applicable to all members - Positive group norms/standards - Explicit and implicit norms **Group Productivity:** - Actual productivity = potential productivity -- losses due to [faulty group processes] - 10 superstars who don't work well together will lower the productivity of the group **Fault Group Processes** - Group too large: communication difficulties, depersonalization - Social loafing: put forth less effort due to motivational losses - Tasks seem meaningless, group members are strangers, group members are better... **Developing Cohesion:** - Factors affecting team climate: - Social Support: Mutual respect and support enhance team climate - Proximity: closer contact promotes team interaction - Distinctiveness: being the 'underdog' might bring your team closer - Similarity: greater similarity within the team = closer climate - MAPS**:** - **M**ission: Derive and clarify team mission - **A**ssessment: assess team strength and areas for improvement - **P**lan: develop action plans to improve effort and commitment - **S**ystemic evaluation: reflect, review, and revise group goals and plans - Strategies for Coaches: - - develop team mission/song/slogan - explain and emphasize individual roles - periodic meetings - pride within subunits - set challenging goals - individual appreciation **[Stress and Anxiety:]** Arousal: - blend of psychological and physiological activation, varying in intensity along a continuum. It is neither pleasant nor unpleasant, ad it occurs from positive and negative events Anxiety: - negative emotional state -- feelings of worry, nervousness, and apprehension associated with arousal/activation of the body - elicited following an appraisal (evaluation) - universal across people of all cultures - has a distinct physiology - observed through discrete facial expressions - associated with unique set of action tendencies Social Anxiety: - occurs when people believe they will receive negative evaluation from others - **Competitive Anxiety**: related to athlete's worries that they may be evaluated negatively by others with respect to their performance or skills - **Social Physique Anxiety:** occurs when people are worried about receiving a negative evaluation about their bodies form others [Trait Anxiety:] a stable part of personality -- tendency to perceive situations as physically or psychologically threatening [State Anxiety:] associated with worries and apprehension in given situations; may change from moment to moment [Cognitive Anxiety:] Concerns or worries that reduce one's ability to focus or concentrate [Somatic Anxiety:] Physiological and affective elements that develop directly from autonomic arousal - Intensity of athlete's anxiety changes before and during events - Ex: somatic anxiety -- low before competition and rises at performance then decreases after - Ex: cognitive anxiety -- declines during competition **The Stress Process:** stimulus / event present -- triggers cognitive-evaluative process - Primary appraisal: is this a threatening event? - Secondary appraisal: do I have the resources needed to manage it? - Stress happens when someone perceives the demands exceed their abilities - Types of Appraisals: - [Harm/Loss] -- An evaluation of a situation in which damage has already been done and the loss is irrevocable - [Threat] -- an evaluation or perception of a situation where an individual anticipates harm might occur - [Challenge] -- evaluation or perception that although there are obstacles in the way, they can be overcome **Stressor Types:** 1. Acute vs. Chronic stressors - Chronic: occurs over long period - Acute: occurs within short period with a sudden onset 2. Expected vs. Unexpected stressors - Expected: plans or prepares - Unexpected: not anticipated and not prepares 3. Competitive vs non-competitive stressors - Competitive: experienced prior, during or right after competition - Non-competitive: related to sport, not directly to competitive performance 4. Organizational stressors - Environmental demands associated directly with the organization in which the athlete belongs - Intrinsic factors - Roles - Sport relationship / interpersonal demands - Performance development issues - Organizational structure **Sources of Anxiety:** - Person: - Personality - High external locus of control can lead to high anxiety before games - High self-esteem has lower levels of competitive state anxiety - Self-handicapping behaviors = high levels of competitive state anxiety - High trait-anxiety = more likely to experience stress with higher intensity and duration - Beliefs & Attitudes: - Positive beliefs = lower levels of state anxiety - Beliefs about the teams success influences precompetitive anxiety - Competence - Readiness - Ability to exert control - Ability to perform better than competition - Situation: - Sport type: - Team vs individual - Contact vs non-contact - Location of Competition: - Higher anxiety when playing away - Importance and criticality of competition: - If the game is more important, state anxiety is higher - Playoffs = higher state anxiety - Critical moments during competition = higher state anxiety - Role on the Team: - Some team roles provoke more anxiety than others (goalie, pitcher) - Unclear roles = higher cognitive and somatic anxiety - Audience: interactions between athlete's internal motivation and external evaluative forces (audience, judges...) - Mere Presence Hypothesis (Triplett) - Presence of others increases arousal and facilitates performance - Social Facilitation theory (Zajonc) - Audience increases arousal -- easy tasks become easier / hard tasks become harder - Evaluation Apprehension theory (Cottrell) - Anticipating negative or positive evaluation either facilitates or hinders performance \**Consider the presence of others, task difficulty and the nature of evaluation* **Stress Reaction**: several physiological and psychological changes accompany the experience of stress - Stress affects the sympathetic nervous system, the endocrine system, the cardiovascular system, the immune system, and cognitive function - - Physiological: - Increased HR, BP - Rapid breathing - Muscles tension - Blurred/narrowed vision - Sweating - Psychological: - Reduced attention - Impaired memory - Impaired decision-making - Increased irritability - Increased negativity - **Cognitive Distortions:** if anxiety is higher, you'll most likely engage in cognitive distortions which will make anxiety higher (endless loop) - Catastrophizing seeing things worse than they are - Overgeneralization extending consequences to unrelated/unaffected areas - Personalization seeing yourself as the victim - Selective Abstraction focusing only on negative - Dichotomous Thinking all or none type thinking **Arousal & Performance:** - [Drive Theory]: as arousal increases, so does performance - [Inverted U Hypothesis]: optimal level of arousal \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\--\> - Moderate level of arousal produce optiaml performance - But is it somatic or cognitive? - [Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (IZOF)] - Some will performa best when anxiety is high, others when moderate, others when low... - [Catastrophe Model:] similar to inverted U hypothesis, but this suggests that when anxiety is high, there will be a **catastrophic** decrement in performance - [Reversal Theory:] arousal affects performance depending on a person's interpretation of their arousal level - low levels of arousal = boredom or relaxation - high level of arousal = excitement or anxiety - people can switch from pleasant to unpleasant interpretations [Interpretation of Symptoms:] - to understand the anxiety-performance relationship, we must consider both the **intensity of feelings** and the **direction of the interpretation of symptoms** - viewing anxiety as facilitative = superior performance (vice-versa) - interpretation depends on perception of control (high control leads to facilitative interpretations) - sense of control can be increased through mental skills training (control = increased confidence) [Measuring Anxiety:] 1. physiologically-based assessments (heart rate, blood pressure...) 2. biochemical assessments (cortisol levels) 3. self-report questionnaires - Competitive Trait Anxiety: - Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT) - 3-point scale (hardly ever, sometimes, often) - Sport Anxiety Scale - Somatic anxiety, worry, concentration... - Competitive State Anxiety: - Competitive State Anxiety Inventory 2 (CSAI-2) - Assess the intensity of cognitive state anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence - Mental Readiness Form **[Regulating Arousal:]** - Athletic performance is an activity which inherently engenders high levels of arousal - Can be facilitative or debilitative - Athletes need to know their optimal levels or arousal and have strategies to maintain them Proper arousal regulation = better focus and control = better skill execution = better performance **Stress & Coping:** - How individuals cope with stress is more important than how much they experience - Coping Strategies: - [Problem-focused] - Efforts that help people change the actual situation - [Emotion-focused] - Efforts to change the way a situation is attended to or interpreted - [Avoidance oriented] - Efforts to remove yourself from a stressful situation \*Lazarus & Folkman: Stress & Coping Model: - High and low control elements - Which coping strategies will be most effective \*Gaudreau & Blondin: Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport - Task-oriented coping: - Dealing directly with the source of stress - Disengagement-oriented coping: - Disengage from the process of trying to make progress on a personal goal - Distraction-oriented coping: - Focus on internal and external stimuli that are unrelated to the stressful situation **Coping Effectiveness:** - Problem-focused / task-oriented copers have higher positive affect + are more likely to attain better achievement outcomes - Avoidance-oriented associated with lower levels of goal attainment - Disengagement-oriented associated with increased negative affect **Emotion Regulation:** Gross proposed that people engage in five types of emotion regulation strategies: 1. Situation Selection: put yourself in situation that will bring about positive emotions 2. Situation Modification: influence the situations to bring about positive emotions 3. Attentional Deployment: direct you attention toward or away from something 4. Cognitive Change: change how you think to change emotion 5. Response Modulation: controlling intensity of emotional response to learn how to regulate your emotions, you should become aware of - - Which emotions are being experienced - When and how they're experienced - How they're expressed - What factors influence your emotions - Impact of coach's emotions - Impact of teammates emotions **Self-Compassion:** - Desire to be moved by one's own suffering and to alleviate that suffering - Comprised of self0kindness, common humanity and mindfulness - Can increase positivity and perseverance - Decreases self-criticism, rumination and concern over mistakes **Arousal Regulation Strategies:** [Somatic Anxiety Reduction:] - **Progressive muscle relaxation:** - Alternate between tension and relaxing muscles in a systematic manner - **Controlled breathing:** - When you're calm, confident, and in control, your breathing is smooth, deep, rhythmic - When you're under pressure and tense, your breathing is short, shallow and irregular - Diaphragmatic Breathing -- controlled breathing technique - Allows more blood to be oxygenated in less time - **Biofeedback training:** - Use physiological feedback to learn how to control physiological responses and increase awareness so that equipment isn't needed - [Biodots]: - Small self-adhesive, temperature sensitive discs placed on skin to monitor skin temp. - Changes color is response to blood flow (warmer skin = more blood flow) [Cognitive Anxiety Reduction:] - **Classical conditioning:** - Flooding - Expose athletes to anxiety-provoking situation to show it's not as bad as they feared - Counterconditioning - First teach relaxation, then expose athlete to anxiety provoking situation -- relaxation response should replace anxiety - **Cognitive reconstructing:** - Recognize and challenge cognitive distortions: - Catastrophizing, Personification, Overgeneralization, Dichotomous Thinking, Selective Abstraction - Productive thoughts (countering, acceptance & problem-solving, focus on controllables) - Thought stoppage - Positive imagery - Positive self-statements - **Self-talk:** - [Instructional self-talk:] overt (directly) or covert (hidden) speech for skill execution, skill development, strategy development, performance improvement - [Motivational self-talk:] overt or covert speech for mastery, arousal control and drive - Self-Talk Use Questionnaire: measuring... - When athletes should use self-talk - What they should say - Why they talk to themselves - How to use self-talk - Six Dimensions of Self-Talk: 1. Valence positive (you got this) or negative (you're not ready) 2. Verbalization overt or covert 3. Self-determination assigned speech or freely chosen 4. Directional interpretation motivating or demotivating 5. Directional intensity not at all or very much so 6. Frequency often or never - **Stress inoculation training:** - Explore stress-inducing scenarios to develop effective coping strategies - What if planning -- a plan to reduce stress (if I see a spider, then how do I cope?) - Discussion of link between thoughts + feelings + performance - Athlete learns self-regulation skills - Coping behaviors prescribed (change negatives into positives) - Exposure to stressful events/outcomes - [Hypnosis:] altered state of consciousness induced through deep relaxation - People are in a state where they respond to suggestions designed to alter perceptions, feelings, thoughts and actions - You need to be highly suggestible -- fears and myths get in the way - **Imagery/visualization:** - [Imagery:] (aka. Mental practice / visualization) - Consciously controlled copy of experience involving all senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, feel...) + moods and emotions - Simulated conditions involving imagery, behavioural practices and relaxation training - Types: - Cognitive general imagery: images of strategies, routines, game plans - Motivational general imagery: images relating to physiological arousal levels and emotions - Motivational specific imagery: imagery relation to a person's goals - Motivational general-arousal: imagery associated with arousal and stress - Motivational general-mastery: imagery associated with being mentally tough, in control and self-confident - Conditions that Facilitate Imagery: - Vividness & controllability: more effective when athletes can control their images - Practice: more practice = better control - Skill level: stronger for experienced performers - Image Content: effective to visualize what you want to do rather than avoid to do - Internal vs External perspective: external = picturing yourself from an outside perspective / internal = mental image with sensations and feelings - Real vs accelerated time: quick / marking it or taking their time - [How Imagery Works:] 1. Psychoneuromuscular - Imagery programs muscles for action - Facilitates the learning of motor skills because imagined events innervate the muscles, strengthen neural pathways 2. Psychological Skills Hypothesis - Imagery develops and refines mental skills such as concentration and reduces anxiety 3. Bioinformational Theory - Images strengthen stimulus response connections - Decision-making process is more rapid because the links between problems and solutions have been established - Uses of Imagery: - Improve concentration - Build confidence - Control emotional responses - Acquire and practice sport skills - Acquire & practice strategy - Cope with pain and adversity - Solve problems [Psych Up Strategies:] - Deep breaths - Stretching & exercise - Pre-competition workout - Music & video - Energizing imagery - Energizing verbal cues - Energizing from environmental cues - Personal notebooks / cue cards / ribbons... - Pep talks / slogans / posters **[Burnout:]** \*a short cycle of training during which athletes are exposed to excessive training loads that are near maximum capacity: positive adaptative = increased performance maladaptation = decreased performance **Staleness:** psychological state of overtraining in which the athlete has difficulty maintain standard training regimes and can no longer achieve previous performance results **Burnout:** psychophysiological response due to frequent but ineffective effort to meet excessive training demands - [Exhaustion]: both physical and emotional - [Sport Devaluation]: negative, detached attitude toward sport, not caring about performance quality - [Reduced sense of Accomplishment]: feelings of inefficacy and a tendency to evaluate oneself negatively -- resulting in low self-esteem, heightened sense of failure, and depression - Feelings of entrapment due to perceptions of low perceived control + an identity that is disproportionately focused on the athletic role (Coakley) - Factors that contribute: - Chronic exposure to excessive training loads - Year-round training + younger ages - Complete immersion in sport - High athletic identity - Control & decision-making are inhibited - Perfectionism - Lack of social support - Pressure to perform - Erratic performance / lack of improvement - Gaily grind / lack of personal time - Sense of entrapment **Cognitive Affective Stress Model of Burnout: Smith** outside stressors and demands influence your cognitive appraisals and physiological responses resulting in coping and task behaviors personality and motivational factors influence everything personality also influences how we perceive burnout and therefore how we respond when stress is higher, we may perceive burnout to be worse (vice-versa) **Integrated Model of Athlete Burnout: Gustafsson et al.**  includes antecedents, early signs, consequences, and factors related to personality, coping and the environment and how they all influence burnout **Symptoms:** - - Overtraining: - Apathy, lethargy - Weight loss - Mood changes / irritability - Insomnia - Elevated resting HR - Muscle soreness - Burnout: - Low motivation - Apathy - Lowered affect - anxiety **Measuring Burnout:** - Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) - Measure 3 dimensions of burnout: 1. Physical/emotional exhaustion 2. Reduced sense of accomplishment 3. Sport devaluation **Precursors of Burnout:** - Increased mood disturbance under heavy training load - Overtrained athletes show an inverted iceberg profile - Exaggerated physical symptoms, drags out the recovery process of injuries - Aggressive, depressed, easily frustrated - Disordered eating / sleeps too much - Cheats in trainings or withdrawal altogether - Extremely self-critical - Aversion / negativity to the sport / lost enjoyment - No life outside of the sport \*\*using an athlete monitoring system (such as Metrifit) can help identity athletes at risk\*\* **Burnout In Coaches:** - - Pressure to win - Interference with parents & administration - Problems with players - Extensive travel - Multiple roles - Intense personal involvement - Limited personal time - Strained personal relationships Age: younger coaches = higher burnout Coaching Style: more people-oriented burn out faster Social Support: higher social supports **Treating & Preventing Burnout:** Athletes: - Short-term goals - Communicate feelings - Increase rest / relaxation - Keep a positive outlook - Good physical condition Coaches: - Encourage athlete to take time off - Educate athletes in stress management - Monitor your athletes - Involve athletes in decision making Overload Source: - Physical Stressor - Psychological - Social Recovery Strategy: - Nutrition & hydration - Rest - Minimize outside commitments - Thought management strategies - Do non-sport activities - Seek social support - Avoid stressful individuals **[Sport Injury:]** Incidence of Injury: - National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS): data on visits to the ER, in-hospital medical clinics and private clinics - Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CAIRPP): data on ER visits only - Many brain injuries, cycling accidents and concussions (football) - Multiple concussions can put players at risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) -- Aaron Hernandez, Philip Adams - Many joint or ligament sprains (ankle & knee), fractures **Stress & Injury Relation:** - At risk athletes: - - Poor coping skills - Low social support - Low-self-esteem - Low in hardiness - High in pessimism - High levels of trait anxiety - At risk athletes are more likely to get injured - [Attentional Disruption:] - Stress = reduced peripheral attention, distraction, and task-irrelevant thoughts - [Increased Muscle Tension:] - Stress = muscle tension & interference with coordination - [Contributing Factors:] - Acting though / sucking it up - Can't distinguish between normal discomfort and injury pain - Injured = worthless attitude Personality factors, history of stressors, coping resources, and psychological skill interventions influence stress response relative to injuries. therefore, a potential stressful situation can lead to injury because of all the outside factors **Experience Of Injury:** Physiological Pain + Psychological impact = response to injury behaviors in rehab and treatment - Pain: biological + psychological event - Nociception (acute vs chronic) perception meaning action S**tresses of Injury:** - - Personal Factors: - Coping ability - Available social support - Injury-Related Factors: - Severity - Consequences - Sport-Related Factors: - Level of participation - Ranking / status of team - Timing / circumstances [Physical Stressors:] - Pain & discomfort - Rigors of rehabilitation - Restricted physical activity [Emotional Stressors] - Feelings of loss and grief - Threats to athletic career - Loss of athletic identity - Fear & anxiety - Rehabilitation setbacks [Social Stressors] - Isolation - Lack of social support - Boredom \*\*these factors influence the types of stressors we have in relation to injury. Based on injury, these are the stressors we can have and based on our personalities, the type of injury and our sport positions, the stresses will be increased or decreased\*\* **Cognitive Distortions:** - Catastrophizing I tore my ALC, there goes my career - Overgeneralization If I can't run then I'll probably lose my throwing accuracy - Personalisation why does this always happen to me! - Selective Abstraction fred also tore his ALC, and his knee has never been the same - Dichotomous Thinking I'm injured so I'm useless to the team **Emotional Response:** 1. Injury-illness phase 2. Rehabilitation-recovery phase 3. Return to full activity phase **Adjustment to Injury** - If you enter rehab being depressed, angry, moody, irritable and have thoughts of failure then rehab will keep giving those results. You won't get better - The combination of negative feelings and negative concerns about injury will result in poor motivation, poor adherence and poor rehab outcomes which will just keep fueling the negativity - If you enter with a positive attitude, cheery, motivated, optimistic and thoughts of getting better, then rehab will work and give good results - The combination of positive feelings and positive concerns about the injury will result in high motivation, high adherence, and favorable outcomes in rehab which will fuel the positive and hopeful thoughts **Athlete Assessment:** 1. 2. Observation: - Physical reactions - Emotional reactions - Interactions with others 3. Talking with the Athlete - What the main concerns? - How much does the athlete know about the injury? - What other stresses is the athlete facing? - Who can the athlete talk to? **Injury Intervention:** [Injury-illness phase:] - Help athlete understand injury - Emotion-focused coping [Rehabilitation-recovery phase:] - Problem-focused coping; goal setting - Sustain motivation & adherence to rehabilitation - Emotion-focused; maintain positive attitude [Return to full activity phase:] - Emotion-focused coping - Managing fear & anxiety - Goal adjustment [Three-pronged approach:] - Educate about injury & rehabilitation - Provide structure through goal setting - Support the athlete's efforts [Education]: - Good pain vs bad pain - Recovery process & expectations - Why rehab adherence is important - Dangers of overdoing it in rehab - Teach specific coping skills (visualization, relaxation...) - Teach how to cope with setbacks [Goal Setting Guidelines:] - Focus on process, not outcome - Structure effort over time - Focus on controllable vs uncontrollable - Enhance commitment / motivation - Provide clarity and prioritization in rehab - SMARTER goals [Multidisciplinary Team:] - physician, physiotherapist, athletic trainer, sport psychologist - develop & monitor rehab plan together - sharing of progress data - rehab plan refinement [Supporting Athletes:] - Show empathy & understanding - Offer guidance and advice - Share experiences of other athletes - Reassure athlete about future & value to the team - Acknowledge rehab efforts - encourage and challenge - monitor athlete's compliance & provide feedback **[Career Transition:]** - retirement has been associated with mental healthy difficulties [Adjustment Differences:] College Athletes: - no major adjustments - high level of life satisfaction - continued sport involvement - sport loses importance to education - difficulties when retirement is forced by injury (unfulfilled promise) Professional Athletes: - more likely to experience adjustment difficulties (loss of \$, personal identities...) Why is it so hard? - Adjustments required on several levels: psychological, interpersonal, and financial - Important factors to consider: - Reasons for retirement - Coping resources - Athletic identity / foreclosure **Causes for Retirement:** 1. Injury - When an injury happens and it kicks you out of the sport, it tends to be harder to cope because its involuntary. 2. Age - You're just too old to keep playing. You're not as fast or as strong 3. Deselection - Length to stay in sport depends on sport (NFL = 4.2 yrs / NBA = 3.4 seasons) 4. Free Choice - Toxic environments - Scandals **Adjusting to Retirement:** Moderators: - - Perceived control over cause/decision - Achievement of sport-related goals - Availability of social support - Previous experience with transition - Continued involvement in sport - Socioeconomic status - Transferable skills - Mentoring - Post-retirement planning - Career transition support **Achievement of Sport Related Goals:** - Those who retired and succeeded in their career = good self-identity, self-esteem, global self-concept - Those who showed high levels of difficulties = loneliness, missing people, longer adjustment time post-sport - Adjusting is easier when you have social support and mentoring **Career Transition Intervention:**  views career transition as a process that creates a potential conflict between what the athlete is and what the athlete wants to be if transition isn't effective, an intervention may be needed **Easing The Transition:** - Pre-retirement planning - Some athletes are superstitious and think that if they start thinking and planning for retirement, it'll happen **Pre-Retirement Planning** - Develop an identity outside of sport - Career/education - Financial planning - Ex: an offensive lineman on the Kansas City Chiefs used his off-season to become a doctor **Transition Interventions:** [Recognize Loses & Provide Supports:] - Camaraderie with teammates - Victory celebrations, public recognition, rewards - Coach telling you what to do and when to do it - Highly structured life with clearly defined goals - Administrators organizing one's life [Help With Identity disengagement/engagement: ] - No longer a World Champion, Olympian - Lost prestige can be difficult to cope with - Redefining success [Identity Transferable Skills:] - Work at high intensity/high pressure - Commit to a plan - Strive for excellence - Self-motivation - Team / player - Adapt to changing environments [Assist with Accessing Mentoring & Job Search Skills:] - Athlete career counselors - Mentors: Olympic mentoring network - - Career guidance - Job shadowing - Transition support - Education guidance - Industry contacts - Industry information - *Athlete Tech Group*: dedicated to empower the next generation - *AWE*: membership program to address barriers face by BIPOC women athletes - *LAPS*: Life After Professional Sport **[Intervention:]** \*Start with an Intake Interview: what's the problem? How long has it been a problem? what have you tried to fix the problem? \*\**don't assume to know what the athlete means, but rather ask for clarity* *\*\*be honest with the client about what the coach has told you about the problem* *\*\*clarify roles and address confidentiality* *\*\*establish trust & rapport* Post-Interview Notes: keep notes to comply with ethical and legal standards Use SOAP approach: - **S**ubjective how the client sees the situation - **O**bjective SP's observations of the client during the interview - **A**ssessment SP's picture of what is going on with the client - **P**lan of Action as agreed to by the client and SP **Striking a Balance:** - Balance between listening and directing - Athletes are action-oriented (don't respond well to talking) - Athlete sets direction, you help clear the path **The Littlefoot Approach:** - Emphasize Active Listening!! - Understand the problem before trying to fix it - Be inquisitive and avoid mind reading - Listen for the 'buts' - Allow clients to bring you back to where they need to be - Be Patient!! - Listening and observing are interventions - You need to be able to make a proper assessment **Assessment Options:** Three main Strategies: 1. Talking to the Athlete 2. Observing the athlete in the sport environment 3. Self-report Questionnaires - Explain purpose of the instrument - What the results mean - What the results will be used for **Action Plan:** - [Teach skills in an orderly and systematic manner (not all at once):] - Conflict with team-mates team cohesion exercise - Performance anxiety relaxation training - [What's in your toolbox?] - - Goal setting - Visualization - Team building - Relaxation / arousal control - Facilitating communication - Cognitive reconstruction - [Belief / Passion / Commitment:] - - Identify the dream - Search for inspirational quotes - Assess skills & abilities - Self-assessment questionnaires - [Focus & Concentration:] - - Identify level of concentration - Identify distractors - Assess whether controllable - Develop refocusing strategies (cue words) - [Goal Setting...Why] - - Direct time and energy - Helps focus of process, not outcome - Structure effort and intensity - Enhance commitment/motivation - Provide clarity and prioritization - Focus on controllable vs uncontrollable - [Goal Types:] - **Performance Goals**: focus on improvement and attainment of personal performance standards - **Process Goals:** focus on specific behaviors in which athletes must engage throughout a performance - **Outcome Goals**: focus on social comparison and competitive results - [Goal Setting...Why?] - - Physical - Emotional - Daily goals - Long-term goals - Short-term goals - Psychological - [Goal Setting...When?] - - Training - Days leading to competition - night before competition - morning of competition - competition - post-competition - [Performance Profiling to Identify Goals:] - Identify performance related strengths and weaknesses 1. Identify key performance characteristics 2. Identify ideal rating for each characteristic 3. Rate current ability for each characteristic 4. Find discrepancy score by subtracting current rating from ideal rating 5. Prioritize targets - [SMARTER Goals:] - - **S**pecific - **M**easurable - **A**chievable - **R**elevant - **T**ime-Bound - **E**valuate - **R**eadjust - Goal Setting...mistakes: - - Setting outcome rather than process goals - Setting too many goals at once - Goals are too easy/hard - Goals are too vague - Not invested in goal - [Constructive Evaluation:] - - For training & competition - Evaluate process not outcome - Look for both good and bad - Identify lessons to carry forward - Incorporate into future goal setting - Periodization of Mental Skills - Develop a timeline for implementing the mental skills you'll be teaching - Adjust your plan accordingly - Explain to the athlete what is expected of them - After first 6 months of intensive teaching, you start to maintain and tweak and address specific problems