Applied sport psychology students undergo, more or less, changes in how they see themselves professionally as service providers as they proceed through their graduate training. Knowledge about early professional development, changes, and conflicts would likely help trainees, supervisors, and educators enhance the quality of applied sport psychology education. In this study, we interviewed Australian trainee applied sport psychologists (5 females, 3 males, age range 22-32 years) on three occasions about their development as practitioners across the first 2 years of their graduate education. Trainees' motivations for becoming practitioners and their models of service evolved over the 2 years. When first interacting with clients, trainees often adopted rigid "expert" problem-solving approaches to service delivery. With time and more experience, some individuals began to focus on developing relationships with clients and adapting wider and more flexible interventions to suit athletes' needs. The experiences of our sample inform trainees' early professional development, and our findings parallel studies from mainstream counseling psychology.For applied sport psychologists in training, one central area of professional growth is the development of service delivery competence, a term not clearly defined in the literature. Drawing on studies in which coaches, athletes, and experienced consultants discussed effective practice recently described service delivery competence as a multidimensional constellation of knowledge, skills, and processes in which practitioners: (a) meet clients' needs and expectations, (b) develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships, (c) understand psychological interventions and apply them to assist athletes in specific situations, (d) empathize with athletes' situations and interpret them through the lenses of suitable theories or models, and (e) reflect on how they (the practitioners) have influenced the interactions and outcomes of service provision. This definition of service delivery competence may be helpful for identifying the skills and abilities that practitioners are striving to master as they mature professionally.

“Choking under pressure” is a maladaptive response to performance pressure whereby choking models have been identified, yet, theory-matched interventions have not empirically tested. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether a preperformance routine (PPR) could reduce choking effects, based on the distraction model of choking. Three “choking-susceptible”, experienced participants were purposively sampled, from 88 participants, to complete ten-pin bowling deliveries in a single-case A1-B1-A2-B2 design (A phases = “low-pressure”; B phases = “high-pressure”), with an interview following the single-case design. Participants experienced “choking” in the B1 phase, which the interviews indicated was partially due to an increase in self-awareness (S-A). During the B2 phase, improved accuracy occurred when using the personalized PPR and, qualitatively, positive psychological outcomes included reduced S-A and decreased conscious processing. Using the personalized PPR produced adaptive and relevant, task-focused attention.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between mental toughness, sport injury beliefs, pain, and adherence toward a sport injury rehabilitation program.Design:A prospective design was employed that evaluated adherence over the entire rehabilitation period.Participants:70 patients undertaking a sport injury rehabilitation program for a tendonitis related injury.Main Outcome Measures:Adherence was measured using self report measures of clinic and home based rehabilitation alongside attendance.Results:No association was found between mental toughness and coping appraisals, although high mentally tough individuals displayed more positive threat appraisals and were better able to cope with pain than their less mentally tough counterparts. Greater attendance at rehabilitation sessions was displayed by more mentally tough individuals; however, more positive behavior during clinic rehabilitation was characterized by low mental toughness.Conclusions:Despite the 0benefits of being mentally tough, sports medicine providers need to be aware that a high degree of mental toughness may have negative consequences upon rehabilitation behavior and subsequently recovery outcomes.

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The influence of internal (movement focus) and external (outcome focus) attentional-focusing instructions on muscular endurance were investigated using three exercise protocols with experienced exercisers. Twenty-three participants completed a maximal repetition, assisted bench-press test on a Smith's machine. An external focus of attention resulted in significant (p < .05) improvements in performance compared to the internal focus of attention, but not the control condition. Seventeen participants completed repetitions to failure at 75% 1-RM on free bench press and squat exercises. In both tasks, externally focused instructions resulted in significantly greater repetitions to failure than control and internal focus conditions (p < .05). These results support previous research showing beneficial effects of externally focused instructions on movement efficiency.