Owen Thomas

Competitive anxiety responses in the week leading up to competition: the role of intensity, direction and frequency dimensions.

This article was published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise on 23 January 2003 (online), available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1469-0292(02)00042-0

Sources and Types of Confidence Identified by World Class Sport Performers

This study identified the sources and types of confidence salient to 14 (7 male, 7 female) successful World Class athletes. Nine sources of confidence were identified: Preparation, performance accomplishments, coaching, innate factors, social support, experience, competitive advantage, self-awareness, and trust. A testament to the multi-dimensional nature of sport confidence, six types of sport confidence were also identified: skill execution, achievement, physical factors, psychological factors, superiority to opposition, and tactical awareness. Gender was related to both the sources of confidence and the subsequent types of confidence experienced by the athletes. For example, females placed more importance on good personal performances than males who derived confidence from winning. Results were discussed in the context of previous sport confidence literature and implications for sport psychology and coaching practices were drawn.

Anxiety Responses and Psychological Skill Use During the Time Leading up to Competition: Theory to Practice I

This study investigated temporal responses associated with competitive anxiety in athletes with facilitative and debilitative interpretations of their anxiety symptoms. Qualitative interviews assessed the intensity, frequency, and direction of cognitive and somatic symptoms experienced during a 7-day competitive cycle and the psychological strategies used to attain/maintain a positive psychological state. Analysis indicated three distinct temporal phases within the competitive cycle during which the intensity and frequency of cognitive and somatic symptoms increased. The facilitators utilized a refined repertoire of psychological skills to internally control and re-interpret the cognitive and somatic symptoms experienced. The debilitators did not possess this refined repertoire of psychological skills and relied on external strategies to stabilize the negative symptoms experienced. The findings emphasize the dynamic properties of the stress response and provide a framework for the structure, timing, and content of psychological skills interventions for use with performers who interpret anxiety symptoms as debilitative.

Defining and Contextualizing Robust Sport-Confidence

This study provided a systematic qualitative examination of robust sport-confidence. A focus group (2 male and 2 female participants), and follow-up interviews, with 16 (8 male and 8 female participants) elite individual sport performers, were conducted to define and contextualize the characteristics of robust sport-confidence. Data analysis procedures resulted in a definition of robust sport-confidence and the identification of 6 characteristics of robust sport-confidence. The characteristics abstracted were: multidimensional, malleable, durable, strength of belief, developed, and protective. Overall, robust sport-confidence was conceptualized as a multidimensional set of enduring positive beliefs. Future research and practical implications are discussed.

Doing sport psychology briefly? A critical review of single session therapeutic approaches and their relevance to sport psychology

Recent research in sport psychology has noted the potential importance of providing sport psychologists with a systematic approach to solve problems in settings constrained by time and pressure. To this end, a growing body of single session therapy (SST) research exists within psychotherapeutic literature and other domains of support work from which sport psychology might take both theoretical and practical guidance. In this article, we review the extant SST literature to provide a rationale for the potential systematic exploration of such therapeutic approaches within sport psychology. The article contextualizes SST as a therapeutic approach and summarizes the characteristics and effectiveness of these approaches via a critical review of descriptive and outcome-focused SST studies. Finally, the article discusses the potential relevance, applicability, and implications of SST approaches to applied sport psychology and addresses future directions for research.