Psychological Consultations for Olympic Athletes' Peak Performance

Wang, Jin; Zhang, Liwei

doi:10.1080/21520704.2015.1037976

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…There are a number of studies exploring Chinese athletes’ experiences of PST ( Wang and Zhang, 2015 ), mental health ( Si et al, 2021 ), and career transition and life skill development ( Zhang et al, 2017 ; Li et al, 2022 ; Zhu et al, 2022 ). The present research illustrates how a working relationship was developed and contributed to developing the learning processes of an athlete, within the context of the Chinese sport system.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the last three decades, the field of sport psychology has become much more accepted as an important part of preparation for optimal performance in high performance sport. Psychological skills training (PST) programs have been designed to enable athletes to learn critical skills such as focus, self-talk, setting of effective goals, visualization, competition planning, and debriefing ( Jones et al, 2002 ; Connaughton et al, 2010 ; Beauchamp et al, 2012 ; Wang and Zhang, 2015 ). Development of these skills has also been shown to enhance the psychological well-being and mental health of athletes ( Horn et al, 2011 ; Golby and Wood, 2016 ; Foster and Chow, 2020 ; Durand-Bush et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Often, a PST program involves a multimodal format integrating the psychological skills systematically to enable an athlete to reduce negative thoughts, control potentially harmful distractions, and increase selfawareness and confidence (Hardy et al, 1996). Importantly, these programs have been frequently employed to not only enhance performance (Thelwell and Maynard, 2003;Sheard and Golby, 2006;Vealey, 2007;Birrer and Morgan, 2010;Beauchamp et al, 2012;Wang and Zhang, 2015), but also enhance an athlete's positive psychological profile (Sheard and Golby, 2006;Golby and Wood, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring a practitioner-athlete relationship and facilitated learning throughout a psychological skills training program

Zhang,

Rogers,

Werthner

2024

Front. Psychol.

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Psychological skills training (PST) programs have been consistently reported as an important part of preparation for optimal performance in high performance sport. However, there is much less research about the quality and characteristics of the working relationship between a sport psychology practitioner (SPP) and an athlete and, importantly, how that relationship facilitates learning. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper was to explore the working relationship between a SPP and a volleyball player and how that working relationship facilitated the learning processes utilized by this player, as she prepared for the demands of her sport and life. An instrumental case study methodology with a qualitative description approach was employed to illustrate different aspects of the evolving relationship and the athlete’s experiences. The results of this case reflect an approach that combined features of both a directive approach in teaching specific psychological skills and a less directive and more collaborative approach, which, in turn, allowed an athlete to begin to learn how to guide their own learning.

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Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring a practitioner-athlete relationship and facilitated learning throughout a psychological skills training program

Zhang,

Rogers,

Werthner

2024

Front. Psychol.

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“…That is, engaging with super-strengths positively influenced psychological characteristics such as confidence and drive, which in turn generated performance improvements. It is expected that if an athletes' psychology improves, their performance will benefit from this improvement (Wang & Zhang, 2015). Indeed in the present study, athletes perceived that super-strengths had a positive influence upon several psychological characteristics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Super-strengths in elite sport

Lindsay¹

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The intention of this PhD was to develop a conceptual pathway for how a novel approach termed super-strengths can be delivered by Sport Psychology practitioners, and to investigate the effects of the approach. The rationale for exploring this particular strengths-based approach (super-strengths) was that although this way of working has scarcely featured in the sport psychology literature, strengths-based approaches have been reported to have positive effects on psychological characteristics and performance in various similar domains. The purpose of the first study of the thesis was to gain an insight into how super-strengths is being used in elite sport, and to develop an initial conceptual pathway for understanding and implementing the approach. The aims were three-fold: first, to explore the meaning of superstrengths; second to explore how super-strengths are identified; and finally to capture the key phases for implementing the approach. To do so, the study explored how sport psychologists (n=7) and coaches (n=8), had co-delivered a super-strengths approach with UK elite athletes. Findings from the semi-structured interviews were categorized into three general dimensions: defining super-strengths, identification methods, and phases of development. Super-strengths were defined as a strategy for performance, utilizing a potential world's-best resource to gain a competitive edge in a performance context. Identification methods were subjective (e.g., asking/observing athletes) and objective (e.g., performance analysis). Participants emphasized three development phases: preparation, adaptation, and monitoring. The findings of the study reinforced the need to obtain athletes' perceptions of super-strengths to explore their experiences of the approach. Thus, the purpose of the second study was to gain understanding of athletes' perceptions of the role and effects of engaging with superstrengths, in relation to their psychological characteristics and performance in elite sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with athletes (n=12) who had previous experience of working with a sport psychology practitioner on super-strengths. Thematic analysis of the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006) indicated that super-strengths had a positive influence on athletes' mind-set, confidence, clarity of purpose, drive, coping ability, and performance. Findings highlighted the potential benefits of adopting strengths-based approaches in sport, and together with the findings from study one suggested that sport psychology (SP) practitioners conducting a super-strengths intervention with elite athletes could potentially facilitate both psychological and performance gains. Thus the next investigation comprised a two-phased super-strengths intervention in an elite sport setting. The aims of phase one were twofold: to preliminarily investigate the practicality of a) delivering a super-strengths intervention guided by the conceptual pathway generated from studies one and two; and b) employing sport-specific self-report measures as a ...

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