At the Olympics, everything is a performance issue

McCann, Sean

doi:10.1080/1612197x.2008.9671871

Cited by 62 publications

(59 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, the 10 identified themes pertaining to Olympic stressors are wide-ranging; therefore, neophyte practitioners must be prepared for and feel competent to deal with an array of PREPARING ATHLETES AND TEAMS FOR THE OLYMPICS 27 pressures that an athlete may encounter (McCann, 2008). Neophyte sport psychologists should also prepare for certain stressors that appear to be unique to the Olympic context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, specific preparation occurs given that the Olympic Games only occur once every four years, particularly when athletes attend their first Olympic Games. Overall, this unrelenting and multifaceted nature of Olympic stressors underscores the importance of sport psychologists' presence with Olympic athletes and/or teams; particularly at the Games itself where stressors tend to heighten in intensity and have the potential to be performance issues (McCann, 2008). To deal with the identified Olympic stressors in this study, practitioners should draw lessons from the extant sport psychology literature in this area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preparing athletes and teams for the Olympic Games: Experiences and lessons learned from the world's best sport psychologists

Arnold

Sarkar

2014

International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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As part of an increased effort to understand the most effective ways to psychologically prepare athletes and teams for Olympic competition, a number of sport psychology consultants have offered best-practice insights into working in this context. These individual reports have typically comprised anecdotal reflections of working with particular sports or countries; therefore, a more holistic approach is needed so that developing practitioners can have access to -and utilise -a comprehensive evidence-base. The purpose of this paper is to provide a panel-type article, which offers lessons and advice for the next generation of aspiring practitioners on preparing athletes and teams for the Olympic Games from some of the world's most recognised and experienced sport psychologists. The sample comprised 15 sport psychology practitioners who, collectively, have accumulated over 200 years of firsthand experience preparing athletes and/or teams from a range of nations for six summer and five winter Olympic Games. Interviews with the participants revealed 28 main themes and 5 categories: Olympic stressors, success and failure lessons, top tips for neophyte practitioners, differences within one's own consulting work, and multidisciplinary consulting. It is hoped that the findings of this study can help the next generation of sport psychologists better face the realities of Olympic consultancy and plan their own professional development so that, ultimately, their aspirations to be the world's best can become a reality. Winning an Olympic gold medal is typically recognised as the ultimate accolade of a successful athletic career and arguably the most demanding challenge an athlete can pursue (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2012;Gould, Dieffenbach, & Moffett, 2002). This is, in part, due to the unique occurrence of the Olympics which takes place only once every four years. It is this infrequency of the event, combined with its magnitude and the globalisation of the sport industry, that ensures worldwide interest in and fascination with athletes' performances. This intense scrutiny, however, brings with it enormous pressure and only those who can manage the stress that accompanies sport at this level will be successful. It is no surprise, then, that there has been an increased effort to understand the most effective ways to psychologically prepare athletes and teams for Olympic competition (see e.g. Gould & Maynard, 2009).Over the past three decades, there has been a growth in the number of sport psychologists helping athletes and teams prepare for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Furthermore, research on the individual consultants has provided insight into different philosophies when working with Olympic athletes and teams, including an educational mental skills approach (Halliwell, 1989), a broad spectrum systems theory approach (May & Brown, 1989), and a preventative medicine model approach (Murphy & Ferrante, 1989).Although the sport psychology literature has greatly increased our best-practice knowledge of the most effective w...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparing athletes and teams for the Olympic Games: Experiences and lessons learned from the world's best sport psychologists

Arnold

Sarkar

2014

International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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“…In the case of Francine, social life and relationships were visible all along her sports career experience, either in a positive way (e.g., feeling of stability due to living as a couple, feeling of maturity and well-being due to motherhood, achieving better performance when in team events), or a negative way (e.g., pressure from perceived performance expectations of others, stress and disappointment due to the clash with teammates just before the OG, feeling of injustice when not supported by the federal staff in her education project). The pre-Olympic period appears to be a sensitive one regarding interpersonal relationships within the team (e.g., McCann, 2008). The OG is a unique competition (e.g., specific rules for qualification, four-year cycle, media dimension) and stakes are particularly high for coaches as well as athletes (e.g., institutional expectations, media comments, main goal of a career).…”

Section: Stages and Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A lifespan perspective on transitions during a top sports career: A case of an elite female fencer

Debois

Ledon

Argiolas³

et al. 2012

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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“…Such situations are ethically challenging 498 for the sport psychologist, who has to take responsibility for how much he can push an athlete 499 to overcome pain and fear. The handling of a crisis can generally not be put off until later, 500 and the sport psychologist needs to deal with the immediate problem and prevent potential 501 future ramifications (McCann, 2008). Consequently, resources are tied up, and the sport 502 psychologist may not be available for athletes with performance issues.…”

Section: Effects Of Previous Collaborations 430mentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of sport psychology consultancy at three Olympic Games: Facts and figures

Birrer

Wetzel

Schmid

et al. 2012

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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14Objectives: Despite many reports on best practises regarding onsite psychological 15 services, little research has attempted to systematically explore the frequency, issues, nature 16 and client groups of onsite sport psychology consultancy at the Olympic Games. The present 17 paper will fill this gap through a systematic analysis of the sport psychology consultancy of 18 the Swiss team for the Olympic Games of 2006 in Turin, 2008 in Beijing and 2010 in 19 Vancouver. 20Method: The day reports of the official sport psychologist were analysed. Intervention 21 issues were labelled using categories derived from previous research and divided into the 22 following four intervention-issue dimensions: "general performance", "specific Olympic 23 performance", "organisational" and "personal" issues. Data were analysed using descriptive 24 statistics, chi square statistics and odds ratios. 25Results: Across the Olympic Games, between 11% and 25% of the Swiss delegation used 26 the sport psychology services. On average, the sport psychologist provided between 2.1 and 27 4.6 interventions per day. Around 50% of the interventions were informal interventions. 28Around 30% of the clients were coaches. The most commonly addressed issues were 29 performance related. An association was observed between previous collaboration, 30 intervention likelihood and intervention theme. 31Conclusions: Sport psychologists working at the Olympic Games are fully engaged with 32 daily interventions and should have developed ideally long-term relationships with clients to 33 truly help athletes with general performance issues. Critical incidents, working with coaches, 34 brief contact interventions and team conflicts are specific features of the onsite consultancy. 35Practitioners should be trained to deal with these sorts of challenges. 36

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At the Olympics, everything is a performance issue

Cited by 62 publications

References 4 publications

Preparing athletes and teams for the Olympic Games: Experiences and lessons learned from the world's best sport psychologists

Preparing athletes and teams for the Olympic Games: Experiences and lessons learned from the world's best sport psychologists

A lifespan perspective on transitions during a top sports career: A case of an elite female fencer

Analysis of sport psychology consultancy at three Olympic Games: Facts and figures

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