Damon Burton

Is anxiety really facilitative? reaction to the myth that cognitive anxiety always impairs sport performance

We feel honored to be selected to react to the competitive anxiety portion of Lew Hardy’s Coleman Grif6th Address from the 19% AAASP Conference. Not only have we long considered Lew one of the brightest and most prolific scholars in our field, but he is also an independent and creative thinker who has pioneered several new approaches to the conceptualization and measurement of anxiety. In reacting to Hardy’s first myth that cognitive anxiety is always detrimental to sport performance, we must first acknowledge that we have many more areas of agreement than disagreement with his major points about competitive anxiety. First, we agree that many ideas about competitive anxiety are outdated and need to be overhauled. particularly how the construct is defined and measured. Second, we acknowledge that as currently measured (e.g., CSAI-2, Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump & Smith, 1990). competitive anxiety can be both facilitative and debilitative to performance. Third, we concur that anxiety researchers should spend less time looking at the individual effects of multidimensional anxiety components and spend more time investigating the interaction between cognitive and somatic anxiety and their joint impact on performance. Finally, we are in general agreement with Hardy’s implications for practitioners, even though we recommend modifying these suggestions somewhat to be consistent with the definitional and psychometric points that this reaction addresses. Nevertheless, the focus of our reaction is centered around two major areas where we disagree with Hardy, specifically: (a) how he defines competitive anxiety

Building the better mental training mousetrap: is periodization a more systematic approach to promoting performance excellence?

Over the past two decades, mental skills training (MST) has experienced a tremendous surge in popularity, yet MST is not without its critics, including some athletes and coaches. Additionally, a number of concerns have arisen about mental training effectiveness, and its ability to maximize athlete development, performance, and peaking. Periodization is a systematic program development and implementation strategy that holds promise for enhancing mental training effectiveness and combating some of the problems currently limiting MST interventions. Thus, the purpose of this conceptual paper was threefold. First, periodization concepts are introduced by demonstrating how they are utilized to systematically guide physical training. Second, strategies to adapt periodization concepts to enhance mental training programs are examined, along with techniques to integrate physical and mental training, including: mental training tool and skill periodization plans and mental training drill menus. Finally, a case study is presented to illustrate how an integrated approach to periodized training that targets both physical and mental skill development can enhance the effectiveness of MST while minimizing implementation problems.

Developing Effective Leaders: Motivational Correlates of Leadership Styles

The purpose of this study was to examine the motivational correlates (i.e., ability beliefs and motivational and social orientations) of four leadership styles (i.e., servant, transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant). Participants included 132 high school and college athletes at a military institute emphasizing leadership development who completed a comprehensive questionnaire assessing leadership styles and motivational variables. Canonical correlation results demonstrated that high task orientation, learning beliefs, and affiliation and recognition social orientations, coupled with lower capacity beliefs, were significantly related to more intrinsically oriented leadership styles. Leadership opportunities also demonstrated relationships with leadership consistent with hypotheses. Discussion highlighted implications for leadership development.

The Competitive Goal Effectiveness Paradox Revisited: Examining the Goal Practices of Prospective Olympic Athletes

The experience and skill of prospective Olympic athletes make them a potentially valuable resource to better understand goal effectiveness. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the nature of perceived goal effectiveness within an elite athlete sample. Participants were 338 athletes (M age = 24.6 years; SD = 6.9 years) from 12 sports who completed an extensive goal-setting survey. Four separate questionnaires assessing perceived goal frequency, effectiveness, commitment, and barriers were factor analyzed to identify relevant dimensions. Perceived goal-effectiveness dimensions were then used to cluster athletes into four profile groups, and differences among the groups were examined on goal frequency, commitment, barriers, self-confidence, and career success. Multifaceted goal-setters scored highest on all variables, goal nonbelievers were lowest, and disillusioned process and competitive goal setters fell in between these extremes. Future directions for goal-effectiveness research are also recommended.

Personal investment perspective on leisure‐time physical activity participation: Role of incentives, program compatibility, and constraints

This study applied Maehr and Braskamps (1986) personal investment theory with the leisure‐time physical activity setting to gain a better understanding of individuals’ activity participation. Specifically, university faculty/staff wellness program participants who varied in self‐reported leisure‐time physical activity levels were compared on personal investment theory components, including physical activity incentives and perceived options (i.e., program compatibility and physical activity constraints). Results support personal investment theory as a viable model for examining leisure‐time physical activity participation. Multivariate analysis of variance results demonstrated that high‐active participants placed more importance on health/fitness and achievement‐related incentives than did less‐active participants. In addition, high‐active participants also felt that their leisure‐time physical activity participation allowed them to attain those incentives to a greater degree than did less active particip...

More Cheers and Fewer Tears: Examining the Impact of Competitive Engineering on Scoring and Attrition in Youth Flag Football

Competitive engineering (CE) is a structurally-based competitive climate process designed to create more positive youth sport experiences. CE uses four implementation strategies (i.e., modifying sport structure, rules, facilities and equipment) in order to attain four athlete engagement goals (i.e., increase action and scoring, enhance personal involvement, keep scores close and maintain positive social relationships) designed to enhance intrinsic motivation outcomes. This exploratory study provided a preliminary test of CE by developing solutions to an existing attrition problem confronting a flag football league, with the specific purpose being to assess the effectiveness of a delayed-rush rule and a junior football equipment modification on scoring and attrition. Participants were 47 players who competed in a 3rd/4th grade flag football league and completed a short survey following the season. Results revealed scoring increased over 100% and attrition decreased by more than 50% compared to the previous season. Player survey data supported the rule and equipment modifications and their ability to minimize physicality and injury concerns and promote scoring opportunities.

Motivational Styles: Examining the Impact of Personality on the Self-Talk Patterns of Adolescent Female Soccer Players

The purpose of this exploratory study was to (a) examine self-talk dimensions in sport, (b) identify whether motivation styles (MS) are represented in this sample (Burton & Weiss, 2008), and (c) compare profiles on self-talk dimensions and related constructs. A sample of 214 adolescent female soccer players completed a comprehensive questionnaire to identify motivational styles and self-talk patterns. Factor analysis results revealed four self-talk frequency and three effectiveness dimensions, and cluster analysis identified four MSs that generally supported predictions. Finally, multi-variate analyses of variance results found profile differences generally consistent with predictions, although success- outperformed mastery-oriented performers. Discussion focuses on future research directions.

Competitive engineering: structural climate modifications to enhance youth athletes' competitive experience.

Competitive engineering (CE) is a structural-based approach to changing the competitive environment of youth sports to provide more nurturing competitive experiences. Thus, in youth sport, CE attempts to enhance a variety of psychosocial outcomes by making systematic changes to the competitive environment in which athletes perform. A working CE model is presented that employs four CE strategies (i.e., modifying structure, rules, facilities and equipment) to promote athlete engagement goals based on athlete-directed sandlot sport principles (i.e., increasing action and scoring, keeping scores close, enhancing personal involvement, and maintaining positive social relationships) in order to attain intrinsic motivation outcomes, particularly competence, autonomy, relatedness and Flow while promoting an autonomy supportive climate. Discussion focuses on how the CE model can best promote research and intervention to enhance competitive climates in order to promote better sport experiences for all youngsters.

The Forgotten Self-Talk Attribute: Examining Perceived Effectiveness Profiles and Patterns of Elite Female Junior Soccer Players:

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of “perceived effectiveness” as a relevant self-talk (ST) attribute using an exploratory instrument designed to measure multiple ST dimensions/attributes as well as psychosocial correlate variables. A sample of 214 adolescent female soccer players were surveyed while participating in an Olympic Development Program Regional Camp. Correlational analysis demonstrated moderate relationships between perceived ST frequency and effectiveness and psychosocial correlates, with perceived effectiveness correlations similar to, or stronger than, frequency relationships. Cluster analysis identified three perceived ST effectiveness profiles (i.e., effective, ineffective and strategy-users), and MANOVA results found the effective ST profile demonstrated significantly more positive psychosocial outcomes than did the other two profiles, supporting perceived effectiveness as a key self-talk process attribute.

Exploring the Potential of Assessment Efficacy in Sports Coaching

INTRODUCTION For the first author who has spent 30 years conducting coaching education, Hay et al.’s provocative “call to arms” promoting assessment as a crucial tool for enhancing coaching effectiveness is clearly “preaching to the choir.” The lack of systematic assessment to provide accountability and value in coaching education has been a problem for over three decades. In the early 1990’s, the first author was invited to speak about coaching evaluation to a Coaching Education Summit jointly sponsored by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the American Coaching Education Program (ACEP). After an exhaustive literature review turned up no empirical research on the topic, he surveyed 20 regional high schools and 20 Northwest colleges to ask athletic directors what type of evaluation they conducted with their coaches. Except for won/loss record and parent/alumni complaints, coaching evaluation was neither based on any objective data nor conducted systematically. Thus, his talk was limited to speculating about how to evaluate coaches and suggesting three possible components to effective coach assessment, including: a) accurate identification and valid assessment of key coach competencies, b) a streamlined process that was easy to implement, and c) targeting of evaluation on formative assessment to enhance individual coaches’ development. In 1992, Tom Raedeke and the first author were asked to conduct a study for ACEP to compare coaching competences for two types of formal curricula used to train high-school coaches (i.e., coaches trained through general teacher education versus nonteachers who completed ACEP coaching education). The study required development of an evaluation tool to assess coaching effectiveness, and we constructed an exploratory instrument to measure coach competencies we termed the Coaching Success Questionnaire (CSQ). Regrettably, the CSQ was not psychometrically sound enough to generate stable coach competency factors, thus making accurate evaluation of the merits of these two types of coaching training curricula virtually impossible. This experience confirmed an obvious need for a coach assessment tool, but conflicting priorities delayed the further development of the CSQ for several decades.