Sport Psychology in Action: 4-Part Article Series Connecting Research to Practice

Youth sport tends to focus on training to enhance athletic performance. However, the most harmful performance stressors aren’t necessarily based on physical abilities, but rather surround an athlete’s mindset. With their brains and self-awareness still developing, young athletes can find the sporting environment extremely stressful.  Young athletes particularly have a fear of embarrassment or making mistakes which negatively influences decision making, tactical awareness, and perceived ability to successfully perform tasks (decreased self-efficacy). With the right tasks, a coach can influence an athlete’s anxiety levels, enjoyment in sport, and overall sport confidence (Duda & Balaguer, 2007). Therefore, the coach plays an essential role in promoting a positive climate that nurtures progress and in which confidence and self-esteem are positively impacted.

Sport Psychology in Action: 4-Part Article Series Connecting Research to Practice

In high school, many athletes have the mindset that winning is the only thing that matters. This mindset can be detrimental to their motivation, especially when they face challenges like not starting as a senior or losing a game even when they played their best. As a coach, you have the ability to change this mindset by creating a positive environment focused on mastery of skills that prioritizes athlete self-improvement instead of peer comparison. Research has shown that the environment, or sport climate, influences an athlete’s motivation and can be directly influenced by you (Horn, 2008).

Sport Psychology in Action: 4-Part Article Series Connecting Research to Practice

The greatest athletes in the world all have clear-cut goals and excel at having a process to achieve them. As a coach, you want your athletes to be at the top of their game consistently and it is important that you take the correct measures to foster an environment that will give them the proper mindset to excel in their sport. By understanding and using Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), you can help athletes pursue the most appropriate goals and guide them on a path to success.

Sport Psychology in Action: 4-Part Article Series Connecting Research to Practice

A lot has changed in sports during 2020. Coaching in a COVID-19 world has shifted to online platforms and away from in-person interactions.  Games, competitions and races have been put on hold for an indefinite time. For an athlete, the inability to work on attaining their goals can be very demotivating and this disruption can lead to a lack of focus, a sense of loss, or a need to reassess their athletic identity. Some athletes might even want to leave their sport altogether. Negative emotions such as disappointment, fear, loss, anger, frustration and confusion are normal responses during times of uncertainty. While each athlete manages their emotions in different ways, some athletes may have a harder time focusing on training and long-term goals when they do not know when their next race will occur.  Coaches can help with this by providing guidance and encouragement.

[4-Article Series]

Introduction: Sport Psychology in Action
When I was a student (not so that long ago), my professors all emphasized the importance of bringing the research we did to those individuals who could put it into practice.  Unfortunately, even though they spoke of this value, most assigned work focused on an audience of academics instead of coaches in the field. Now that I am a professor at Boise State University, I want to put these words into action. One way I try to do this is through my students’ course assignments. Specifically, in my theoretical sport psychology masters course, one of the major assignments is a blog post that must take research articles and tailor the content to a specific audience (e.g., coaches, parents, athletes). Through this assignment, I hope students see the value of communicating research, often hidden behind a paywall or difficult to access, to the coaching audience that can put the content into practice in their own work.

It is with this lens that I present four articles completed in a course this past fall semester. Each of the authors was a master’s student in the course that focused on sport psychology theory. In the course, we cover a variety of topics including anxiety,  confidence, motivation, and a number of constructs that influence coaching behaviors. In the assignment, students were able to focus their article on any topic they choose and direct it to any audience they feel would benefit from the information.