Amber M. Shipherd

A scientist-practitioner approach to an on-field assessment of mental skills in collegiate soccer student-athletes

ABSTRACT Sport psychology practitioners frequently utilize questionnaires to evaluate sport psychology services, yet questionnaires may not be valued as highly by the coaches and/or athletes themselves. Therefore, an alternative, more reliable, and ecologically valid method of assessing mental skills is needed for sport psychology practitioners. As such, the purpose of this article is to illustrate how an authentic field-based mental skills program assessment was used in the off-season for collegiate soccer teams. Following discussions between the sport psychology practitioners and coaching staff, pre- and post-test activities were developed and implemented on an outdoor soccer field, which was determined to be a more authentic “real-world” environment. Activities evaluated situational and tactical awareness, on-field communication, shooting self-efficacy, and performance under pressure and fatigue. The field assessment experience provided a good method for the sport psychology practitioners to observe improvements in mental skills, and the student-athletes and coaches reported that the activities and debrief demonstrated the involvement of mental skills in every aspect of their soccer performance.

Game on! gamifying the sport psychology college classroom

ABSTRACT A common problem college educators face is keeping this generation of students engaged in the classroom. Research supports that gamification, or using game like mechanics, can improve student engagement and facilitate intrinsic motivation, while also encouraging students to think critically, connect ideas, reflect, and become better self-directed learners. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how gamification can be implemented in college classes and provide an example of how gamification was effectively implemented in an undergraduate sport psychology class. Qualitative feedback from students is reported, and strategies and recommendations are provided for educators wishing to begin gamifying their classes.

The influence of coach turnover on student-athletes' affective states and team dynamics: An exploratory study in collegiate sports

Coach turnover is frequent, especially in collegiate sports in the United States. To date, however, there is limited research on how coach turnover might affect student-athletes. Accordingly, we aimed to qualitatively explore how coach turnover might influence student-athletes’ psychosocial states and team dynamics in collegiate sports. Eleven athletic teams at a Midwestern Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association institution having undergone coach turnover during the past four years participated in the study. Four coaches and 21 student-athletes representing both individual and team sports, as well as two administrative staff members, participated in semi-structured interviews (coaches and administrators) and focus groups (student-athletes). Inductive data analysis revealed four first level themes: coach style and background, athlete affective states, team dynamics, and program culture. Our analysis suggested that, depending on their gender and coaching style, coaches might have a positive or negative impact on athletes’ affective states (e.g. positive and negative affect), team dynamics (e.g. cohesion; athlete leadership), and the program culture. Thus, practitioners might facilitate the positive impact of coaching turnover by assessing whether the new coach is a ‘good fit’ at the individual (micro), team (meso), and environmental (macro) level of analysis.

Athlete Superstitions in Swimming: Beneficial or Detrimental?.

Superstitions, or repetitive actions an athlete believes to be powerful and influential to performance and success, are prevalent in all types of sport. Superstitions are often believed to be detrimental due to their controlling nature, as opposed to pre-performance routines, in which the athlete is in control. However, superstitions may serve to reduce stress and anxiety for some athletes. The purpose of this article is twofold. The first aim is to discuss the role of superstitions in sport, specifically focusing on swimmers. In addition to differentiating between superstitions and pre-performance routines, the factors that influence the likelihood of a swimmer using superstitions and the role that superstitious behaviors play on performance are identified. Common examples of superstitious behaviors utilized by swimmers are also provided to help those who work with swimmers. The second aim of this article is to provide suggestions for how coaches and other practitioners can monitor and address superstitions to best assist their athletes

Can psychological well-being scales and hormone levels be used to predict acute performance of anaerobic training tasks in elite female volleyball players?

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between pre-training psychological well-being assessment scales (General Health Questionnaire-28-GHQ-28, Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2-CSAI-2, Sport Competition Anxiety Test-SCAT, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-S-STAI-S, Oviedo Sleep Questionnaire-OSQ and Psychological Characteristics Related to Sport Performance-PCSP), and pre-training stress hormone concentrations (cortisol-C, total testosterone-TT, free testosterone-FT, adrenocorticotropic hormone-ACTH and testosterone/cortisol-T/C ratios), on acute neuromuscular performance (ANP) in female volleyballers. Forty elite female volleyballers (27±4yrs.; 178.3±8.5cm; 67.9±7.2kg) participated. Bivariate correlations were performed between psychological assessments and hormone levels with ANP. All psychological scales presented at least one significant (p<0.05) relationship or prediction of ANP. Contrastingly, among hormones, the only significant relationship was between TT/C ratio and Overhead Medicine Ball Throw (r=0.34; p<0.05). Therefore, our data shows that results of general and sport-specific psychological well-being scales prior to training are more consistently related to performance in elite female volleyballers than pre-training stress hormone concentrations.