Abstract
One reason sport psychologists teach psychological skills is to enhance performance
in sport; but the value of psychological skills for young athletes is questionable
because of the qualitative and quantitative differences between children and
adults in their understanding of abstract concepts such as mental skills. To teach
these skills effectively to young athletes, sport psychologists need to appreciate
what young athletes implicitly understand about such skills because maturational
(e.g., cognitive, social) and environmental (e.g., coaches) factors can influence the
progressive development of children and youth. In the present qualitative study, we
explored young athletes’ (aged 10–15 years) understanding of four basic psychological
skills: goal setting, mental imagery, self-talk, and relaxation. Young athletes
(n = 118: 75 males and 43 females) completed an open-ended questionnaire to
report their understanding of these four basic psychological skills. Compared with
the older youth athletes, the younger youth athletes were less able to explain the
meaning of each psychological skill. Goal setting and mental imagery were better
understood than self-talk and relaxation. Based on these findings, sport psychologists
should consider adapting interventions and psychoeducational programs to
match young athletes’ age and developmental level.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 158-172 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2010 |
Keywords
- Sports psychology
- Teenage athletes
- Child athletes