Psychology in Professional Sports and the Performing Arts

Challenges and Strategies

Robert Schinke, Dieter Hackfort, Robert J. Schinke, Dieter Hackfort, Robert Schinke, Robert J. Schinke, Dieter Hackfort

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138808614
• eBook ISBN: 9781317612520
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Applied Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The relationship between sport and exercise psychology and the realm of professional sport and performance has grown exponentially in recent years. Elite athletes increasingly see the value in seeking psychological advice and expertise, while consultants now work in a wider range of elite performance environments.

Psychology in Professional Sports and the Performing Arts: Challenges and Strategies is a unique and timely collection that brings together the experiences and knowledge of a range of applied psychologists working in these exciting industries. The book begins with a section outlining the core skills practitioners require in the field, before chapters discussing individual sports, team sports and the performing arts. Each author looks at how theoretical principles can be applied within a particular professional context, delineating how performers may benefit from working with a psychologist, as well as the ethical and cultural challenges that they faced.

Assessing the role of applied psychologists across a truly unique range of activities, from polo to motor racing and ice hockey to modern dance, Psychology in Professional Sports and the Performing Arts: Challenges and Strategies offers unrivalled insights into how sport and exercise psychology can be put into practice in challenging professional environments. It will appeal to anyone studying sport and exercise psychology, or working in the field.

1

Embarking on sport psychology with professional level athletes

Dieter Hackfort and Robert J. Schinke

If you have yet to work with professional performers as a sport psychology consultant, you likely know, or have heard, about someone who is or who has worked with these clients. As sport psychology becomes a more visible and reputable profession in various action fields in sport and beyond, we are beginning to find sport psychologists and mental training consultants working with many teams and in many performance contexts, regardless of the performance discipline. When thinking of what these contexts might be, they include team sports, such as football, cricket, ice hockey, rugby, and polo. There is also a breadth of individual sport disciplines, such as mixed martial arts, boxing, golf, and sumo wrestling. Though these sport contexts are known to be places where sport and performance psychology professionals engage in their craft, performance contexts also hire our professionals. Ballet and modern dance are two such contexts, and then there are performance environments, such as Cirque de Soleil, and there are also music contexts, such as rock and classical, where people with sport psychology training have found a home and earned a wage. We are only beginning to understand that the breadth of possible environments receptive to this sort of professional practice is as wide and deep as we venture to explore and chart. Common issues and strategies which might be transferable between various action fields can be detected in numerous contributions to this volume, as well as very specific ones which play a key role in an engagement in this sport or action field. It was one of the initial ideas for this kind of compilation of chapters to set the groundwork to reveal commonalities as well as specificities with regard to certain issues, approaches, and strategies or even mental techniques for performance enhancement.

As far as we know, this international book project on sport psychology in professional sport and performing arts is the first of its kind. We were not able to secure every sport and performing art, which were only attempts in vain. In several cases, these chapters were secured and then withdrawn at various stages of development. One such occurrence related to a team sport where the author sent a final version of the chapter to management to ensure its authenticity before publication. The author was then notified by the sport organization’s attorney that the chapter needed to be withdrawn or the author would risk litigation. Then there were cases where authors who were full-time practitioners could not complete their commitments because their employment was in peril. These fluid aspects in relation to this book reveal the very nature of professional sport and performance psychology contexts. Practitioners are employees of large organizations, and their commitments can change at the drop of a hat, with little to no notice. From the vantage point of the co-editors, these losses are unfortunate, but they are not insurmountable. From another perspective, many of the authors contributing to this book are full-time practitioners, and we have been truly fortunate that they were able to meet our commitments over and above their own. There are nuggets in each chapter and symmetries that we refer to in our concluding chapter that might be regarded as consistencies across professional contexts. The nuances of contexts are highly important, and yet, the professional approaches that follow are also to some extent transferable skills that might be modified, though with basic elements, such as professionalism, ethics, humanity, and organization, left intact.

Purpose

We have enlisted a broad scope of contexts representing highly relevant and interesting professional performance environments. The reader will find that the authors we secured are at the very top of their game. These people were handpicked because they have substantial experience which is of significant value for the next generation and/or longevity in professional performance contexts. All of these people have been honing their craft for several years, and they have become specialists in their respective sport and performance contexts. These authors were encouraged to share the uniqueness of the contexts where they work, and what we have found is that aspects of professional practice are unique to the context; there are sub-cultures to consider. Practitioners will not work with a boxer as they would a drummer, using the same language, negotiating the same physical space, or using theoretical approaches in the same manner. Nuances come with each context, and practitioners need to observe these and pick up on social cues in order to navigate effectively in their environments, becoming one with the sub-culture. Despite the uniqueness you will find in relation to each context, common threads unite these world-class authors. What have we found these commonalities to be? All of these people are generous with their time and their knowledge. In some environments there are said to be trade secrets, and yet the authors in this book have chosen to hold nothing back. They share with you the challenges they have experienced, how they honed their skills, and why they have succeeded in their worlds. There is little meant to mystify you in this book. Instead, all of the authors agreed to peel back the onion in their contexts and try to anticipate the questions someone might ask, before embarking on performance psychology work in professional contexts.

Therefore, the purpose of this book is to provide the opening to discussions about how one might engage in professional sport/performance psychology practices. Meanwhile, many people in the world are doing these sorts of jobs, and they are doing it well! Our goal is to provide a window into what good-quality work might look like and how it might be structured, while also revealing some of the characteristics of what it takes to be a successful professional in this field. In addition, the contributors have looked within themselves and considered some of their pitfalls – lessons we might learn form their experiences. There are enough unique lessons to be learned and mistakes to be committed as we enrich our practices. We can avoid some mistakes by gaining a jump on common mistakes through this reading. Our hope, as the editors, is to try and anticipate some of the questions you might wish to have answered and feature answers to these from within and across contexts. Examples of these questions that will be answered include the following: (a) How does one prepare for practice at the professional level and what sorts of skills are needed? (b) How does a professional develop an effective application for a job at this level by context? (c) How does one embark in one’s work once being hired? (d) What are the sorts of rookie mistakes that typically transpire at the beginning of a career at this level of practice? (e) How does one develop effective practice within the sub-culture and context? (f) What does it take to become rooted within a contract or employment position? Our shared goal with the authors is to promote further dialog in our professional community, with more consistently creditable work being done, which can only benefit generations to come. The development of our field is dependent on the exchange of useful information. This book has been developed to help you build a better knowledge of what might be needed in order to thrive at the professional level.

Structure

This book has been divided into sections. Each of these sections will be introduced in turn. The sections are as follows: (a) core knowledge, (b) individual sports, (c) team sports, and (d) the performing arts.

Section I: core knowledge

This book opens with core knowledge. Core knowledge refers to some of the basics that span contexts. Within this section, Angus Mugford, a former employee for a sport management group, who is now employed by a professional baseball franchise to lead their analytics, considered how to prepare athletes for the career stage of becoming a professional athlete in chapter two. Mugford also opens up discussions about the importance of cultural knowledge and athlete holistic development. Robert Nideffer, a world expert on attention, has spent many years working with professional athletes and corporations. He focused his chapter on how to effectively build a consulting business. You will find in chapter three that Nideffer shares many of the mistakes he experienced and also, how to avoid these same pitfalls. Frank Gardner authored chapter four about how to overcome resistance with clients. Gardner brings lengthy experience working with National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) teams to his chapter. From his experiences, one begins to see how he partners so effectively with professional sport teams. Zella Moore was invited to write about her experiences working with transnational professional athletes in chapter five. Within many professional sports, athletes relocate from one country to another, often temporarily, to pursue their sport careers. Moore explores the emerging discussion relating to athlete acculturation, and shares strategies of how to support this stressful process to the athlete, derived from her work with NHL players. Jack Watson and Edward Etzel are well-known ethicists in the field of sport psychology. They authored chapter six, focusing on the various challenges that practitioners will likely encounter when working at the professional level. At this level, performance is a business. Watson and Etzel recognize this situation and offer suggestions of how to work ethically and how to avoid the pitfalls that might compromise one’s work and credibility.

Section II: individual sports

Section II comprises seven sports where athletes perform as individuals. Though these athletes could be well surrounded by a working team, especially as they progress in their careers and improve their rankings, the performance within the confines of the field of play is an individual effort. Within this section, Chris Harwood authored chapter seven. Harwood works with all stages of elite tennis players, beginning his work with them when they are juniors and continuing consultation when they transition forward into world-ranked professionals. Embedded in the tennis chapter, the reader will find some of Harwood’s well-respected work on athlete reflection. Reflection is indeed a central part of what needs to be inculcated in aspiring athletes from our field. Richard Gordin authored chapter eight and focused on his long-standing work with male athletes competing within the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour. Gordin reveals a highly humanistic approach in his work, and he also identifies some of the necessary requirements for practitioners interested in gaining entry into PGA Tour work. There are specific standards asked by the tour, over and above those expected by a sport psychology accreditor. Christian Smith, who works for International Management Group (IMG), authored chapter nine pertaining to his work in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). One finds within Smith’s chapter, one pathway through which our professionals begin to specialize in a preferred sport – some grow up in the sport they eventually become specialists in. From Smith’s first experience with sport psychology from the vantage point of being an athlete, he recognized the importance of connecting with his athletes and understanding the sport’s sub-culture. Much of the knowledge Smith draws on is based on his personal exchanges with athletes over the course of a season, leading to major tournaments such as the US Open. In addition, Smith does what a sound consultant should do: he engages in collateral discussions with coaches, caddies, family members, and the various other people central to the client. This sort of approach has permitted Smith, and likely most every author in this book, a 360-degree understanding of each athlete, situated in her training and performance context. Dieter Hackfort authored chapter ten based on his experience working with some of the best German Formula One (F1) drivers in the world, including several world champions. The reader will find that Hackfort is scientific in his approach to applied practice. He must be in order to reinforce effective mastery and coping skills in this high-risk sport. Hackfort’s prevailing messages are that mental skills training should be based on systematic assessments, and not only practitioner intuition, though both approaches are necessary. Hackfort’s words return the reader to one prevailing message pushed throughout this book and by both co-editors – that a science-to-practice link is central to work at the highest level. Robert Schinke focused on professional boxing in chapter eleven. Schinke introduces a few novel approaches that he has utilized over nearly 20 years of working with professional world championship boxers. Within the chapter, Schinke considers the importance of contextual understanding and belonging within the sub-culture. This author, who is also a researcher specializing in cultural sport psychology, provided suggestions on how to become culturally astute. Also found within chapter eleven is a skill set referred to as psychological profiling. Schinke uses profiling to discover the tendencies of his boxers’ opponents and then brings this information to the client to facilitate much quicker psychological adaptation leading up to critical matches. His profiling work is framed within resilience scholarship and explanatory patterns. Rebecca Symes is an emerging practitioner who works within the field of sport and also in the corporate sector. She is one of the few practitioners working with professional mixed martial artists (MMA). In chapter twelve, Symes discusses how she gained a foothold in this emerging sport and also the interest her work generated within a local MMA group. Symes’ work is built from a cognitive behavioral framework, though her use of skills is something she regards as “eclectic”. Within this chapter, we learn about the MMA culture, where little is presently known from the vantage point of our field. Yoichi Kozuma from Japan was asked to share his work with sumo wrestlers in chapter thirteen. To my knowledge, there is little contribution from authors who write in English about this most interesting Asian sport. Kozuma began serendipitously with this sport, and after some initial success became known for his exemplary work with a notable athlete. Since then, he has worked with several sumo athletes. Kozuma uses psychometric assessments to guide his work, and he also advocates for athlete education, often asking his athletes to read up on skills and engage in various workbook tasks before their next session with him. Kozuma proposes that all of his athletes should develop seven key mental skills: goal-setting, arousal control used in two different programs, visualization, concentration, positive thinking, and psychological tournament preparation. Kozuma’s emphasis is on mental skills, and he clarifies that athletes must practice these as part of a daily training routine.

Section III: team sports

Section III includes seven chapters that are focused on team sports. The focus within these sports extends to the coordination of athletes’ efforts, in addition to working with coaching staff, management, and ownership. Stiliani Chroni, the author of chapter fourteen, has worked for many years within professional polo contexts, most often in the United States. Her entry into the sport began when she was a graduate student working with the University of Virginia Polo Team. From there, she progressed to working with professional polo players as a result of working with the team in Florida during their competitive season. Chroni’s attraction to polo was guided by suggestions from her then-supervisor to choose a sport that could afford her skills. Chroni became a student of her sport, similar to the authors before and following this one. She asked many questions early on of grooms, family members, and athletes in order to expedite her learning curve. The level of commitment from Chroni, though, in terms of taking Spanish courses, reminds the reader of the extreme level of commitment needed when working with athletes, with skills sometimes extending beyond mental and psychological skills training. Paul Dennis authored chapter fifteen based on his concentrated work within the NHL. Dennis gained entry into what was a long-standing role, working with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Earlier in this chapter, we identified the importance of longevity in a single sport context, and Dennis exemplifies this message very well. He gained his entry into professional ice hockey through his work as an elite junior coach for the same sport. Dennis knew his sub-culture well, at least in relation to elite junior performers within the sport where he evolved. He then transitioned into the role of video coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs and then expanded his role over time from there. Dennis’s story reminds the reader that longevity is often the result of beginning in one role and then either expanding that role or branching out into a role that becomes one’s “home”. Another takeaway from this chapter is the necessity to stay current with scientific research. Finally, Dennis recognizes that each athlete and team is its own boutique operation, with uniqueness that influences how a sport psychology consultant ought to work. Mark Nesti authored chapter sixteen focusing on the sport of football (termed soccer in North America). Nesti is a renowned qualitative researcher from the area of phenomenological psychology. His skills, as both a person who listens well and as an introspective service provider, likely tie back to his research skills. Nesti shares in common with several of the authors an athletic background gained in the sport where he became a practitioner. Nesti centralizes the importance of cultural understanding within his work, as many of the authors in this book have. In relation to cultural context, Nesti recognizes that sport psychology work is offered in a context that includes not only athletes, coaches, and management but also a demanding media, sport agents, and contractual negotiations over salary. All of these demands infuse into what a sport psychologist must understand as additive to an athlete’s and a team’s stress load. Stephen Mellealieu, a psychologist and renowned scholar from the area of stress and performance, authored chapter seventeen about his work in professional rugby. The professionalization of rugby is a relatively recent development. Similar to many of the authors, Mellealieu brought an extensive athletic background as a junior international level rugby player to his practice, and as such, he understood the sport’s culture (i.e., its physicality and demonstrations of aggression) before beginning to hone his professional skills in a formal role. Within this chapter, the reader finds that it is useful for practitioners interested in professional sport contexts to have a mentor, also with such experiences to share. A prevailing message from Mellealieu is that the sport psychology consultant needs to form alliances with all staff, to become part of an integrated support team (IST). Stewart Cotterill considers professional cricket in chapter eighteen. Cotterill, a former multisport athlete, believes that athletes should leave no stone unturned, including their mental game. Cotterill entered into cricket by working with youth athletes in an academy. His approach was to develop his contextual knowledge with promising young athletes before he transitioned by word of mouth to professional cricket. He, unlike some of the authors, though consistent with the two co-editors, came from a sport background that was not where he eventually established himself as a professional provider. This beginning as a non-cricket player or coach, he feels, has permitted him to ask questions about the sport in a way where his inquisitiveness was not regarded as judging. Cotterill suggests that sport psychologists can integrate many approaches in order to do their work, as opposed to specializing in a particular methodology. Charlie Maher has practiced in a vast number of professional sports, especially professional team sports, including American football, the NHL, and in Major League Baseball (MLB), his focus in chapter nineteen. Maher, a psychologist by trade, began as a guidance counselor and coach, and then as a university professor. He found that his diverse experiences have all influenced the way he does his work as a practitioner. Maher gained formative experience within baseball as a high school and then as a collegiate coach. A professional baseball team initially approached Maher to assist with mental training programs for athletes and staff. Since 1995, Maher has worked with the same baseball team, a true sign of longevity. Moreover, Maher’s role has expanded beyond sport psychology. Now his work includes managing a department of personal and organizational services. Within chapter nineteen, where this section concludes, Mah...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Biographies
• 1 Embarking on sport psychology with professional level athletes
• Section I Core skills
• Section II Individual and pair sports
• Section III Team sports
• Section IV Aesthetics and the performing arts
• Index