Psychology in Sports Coaching

Theory and Practice

Adam R. Nicholls

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781000436136
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Scienze motorie e sportive

The most effective coaches understand the fundamentals of sport psychology, which include interacting effectively with athletes, creating the optimal environment, assessing the psychological needs of their athletes, and providing them with the mental training required to maximise performance.

Fully revised and updated, the third edition of Psychology in Sports Coaching clearly and accessibly introduces the principles and practice of sport psychology in the context of the coaching process. Drawing on the very latest research and theory, the book introduces the psychological tools and techniques that coaches can use to get the best performances out of their athletes. Including three new chapters on the constraints approach to assessing psychological needs, mental imagery, managing perfectionism tendencies, and mentoring leaders, the book also offers step-by-step guidance on key topics such as:

• Assessing the needs of athletes
• Facilitating awareness through goal setting and performance profiling
• Coaching specialist populations effectively (e.g. children, adolescents, adults and athletes with learning disabilities)
• Reducing favourable attitudes towards doping
• Developing effective coach-athlete relationships
• Reducing choking under pressure
• Mindfulness techniques
• Mental imagery

Every chapter contains useful features to aid learning and understanding, including in-depth case studies, critical thinking questions, clear and concise summaries, and practice exam questions. Psychology in Sports Coaching is essential reading for any student of sports coaching, or any practising coach looking to extend and develop their skills, and useful applied reading for students of sport psychology.

PART 1
Providing psychological training as a coach and mental health among athletes

1
DO’S AND DON’TS FOR COACHES WHO PROVIDE SPORT PSYCHOLOGY TO THEIR ATHLETES

Ethics, referrals, and the HCPC

DOI: 10.4324/9781003201441-3

The aim of this chapter is to provide some important information that coaches should consider when they provide psychological support to athletes. This chapter provides insight on the following:

• What sport psychology is and what it isn’t
• Ethical issues associated with providing sport psychology to athletes: some don’ts and do’s
• The regulation of sport psychologists and protected terms
• Referrals
• Practical implications of coaches providing sport psychology

What sport psychology is and what it isn’t

Psychology refers to the scientific analysis of the way human beings behave, think, and feel. As such, sport psychology refers to the scientific analysis of the way humans behave, think, and feel within sporting contexts, such as training and competition. According to Nicholls and Callard (2012), there are two primary goals of sport psychology: (1) to ensure the psychological well-being of athletes and (2) to maximise performance. As such, sport psychology and coaching have a common purpose: performance maximisation of athletes or sports teams.

Ethical issues associated with providing sport psychology to athletes: some don’ts and do’s

When a coach provides psychological help to his or her athlete, the coach is entering into what Ebert (1992) termed a ‘dual-role relationship’. Brewer (2000) suggested that dual-role relationships have the potential to be problematic from an ethical perspective. Some scholars have even suggested that coaches should not provide psychological help to athletes (e.g. Ellickson and Brown, 1990) because there might be problems establishing a boundary between the coach and the athlete and problems regarding confidentiality, given that coaches often provide public statements to media organisations about their athletes. Additionally, coaches who provide psychological help may not be able to do so without seeing a reduction in their competency as a coach due to time pressure (Buceta, 1993). Perhaps, the most important ethical issue relating to coaches providing psychological guidance to athletes relates to whether they are competent to do so without harming the athlete (Koocher and Keith-Spiegel, 1998).

However, others such as Smith (1992) and Brewer (2000) have stated that a coach providing psychological help to an athlete is compatible with coaching roles as long as the coach provides psychological help geared towards performance and not clinical concerns. There are several don’ts and do’s that coaches could consider when they provide psychological help to athletes:

Don’ts

• Provide psychological help for non-performance issues (e.g. depression, drug abuse, alcohol addiction, gambling, eating disorders, or relationships). In instances that these cases are presented to the coach, the athlete should be referred immediately to a clinical psychologist or a general practitioner (Andersen and Van Raalte, 2005).
• Put pressure on an athlete to receive psychological help.
• Let the psychological help provided to an athlete reduce the quality of coaching provided.

Do’s

• Consult a registered sport and exercise psychologist or clinical psychologist if there are any doubts regarding the aspects of the psychological help he or she provides or concerns he or she may have with an athlete.
• Provide athletes with information on the different psychological skills that can be taught by a coach and the commitment the athlete will have to make before starting any psychology training interventions.

The regulation of sport psychologists and protected terms

Even though a coach may acquire very extensive information on sport psychology and be very effective at creating psychological training programmes, coaches cannot call themselves sport psychologists or advertise for work in this capacity within the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, or Australia if they are not registered within the United Kingdom or licensed in the United States, Canada, or Australia.

Since the 13th May 2009 the Health Care and Professions Council (HCPC) regulates individuals who practice as psychologists under statutory regulation. As such, the terms ‘registered psychologist’, ‘practitioner psychologist’, and ‘sport and exercise psychologist’ are protected terms, and only individuals who are registered with the HCPC can use this title.

Should a coach wish to become an HCPC-registered sport and exercise psychologist, there two specific pathways which involves the completion of:

• An undergraduate degree that is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
• A master’s degree, which is accredited by the BPS, in sport and exercise psychology.
• Two years of supervision by an HCPC-registered sport and exercise psychologist.
• or the Sport and Exercise Psychology Accreditation Route through BASES.

Within the United States, Canada, and Australia, individuals are required to obtain a licence in order to practice as a psychologist. The formal training involves:

• Achieving an undergraduate degree that is accredited by the relevant country’s psychological society (e.g. American Psychological Association, Canadian Psychological Association, or Australian Psychological Society).
• A professional doctorate in psychology.

For clarification, coaches are legally allowed to provide training in the psychological skills outlined in this book, but they cannot call themselves sport and exercise psychologists.

Referrals

A referral is when a coach contacts another professional to help the athlete he or she is working with because of a lack of competence or expertise to deal with a problem. Referrals might also be made when a coach might not think it is appropriate to work with a specific athlete (Brewer, 2000). A coach should contact a clinical psychologist or ask his or her athlete to contact his or her general practitioner if the athlete has problems relating to:

• Depression
• Drug abuse
• Alcohol addiction
• Gambling
• Eating disorders
• Relationships

Under no circumstances should coaches attempt to provide psychological support to athletes for these issues. In circumstances that are performance related and when a coach feels the needs of an athlete are beyond his or her capabilities, the coach should refer the athlete to a registered sport and exercise psychologist.

Referring an athlete to another professional, such as a clinical psychologist or a sport and exercise psychologist, has the potential to make it awkward for a coach. The coach could explain to the player why a referral has been made, share information about the professional the referral has been made to, and answer any questions the athlete has.

Practical implications of coaches providing sport psychology

Although many athletes would potentially benefit from receiving training in sport psychology by their coach, some coaches will simply not have the time to learn about different psychological techniques and then implement the techniques with athletes. Before asking an athlete whether he or she would like to engage in some psychological training, the coach should make sure that he or she has enough time to coach the athletes and provide psychological help too.

When coaches have the time and an interest in using sport psychology within their coaching, they have the potential to improve the performance, enjoyment, and well-being of the athletes they coach. As with all new skills, coaching psychological skills will be difficult at times and improvements in an athlete’s performance may take a long time, but by providing psychological skills training, coaches are providing a more complete service.

2
MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS AND SYMPTOMS AMONG ATHLETES

DOI: 10.4324/9781003201441-4

The aim of this chapter is to provide information on mental health. Although coaches are not qualified or do not have the competences to help treat athletes with a mental health issue (see Chapter 1), it is important that they have an understanding of mental health and some of the issues that their athletes may contend with, as well as how they can create an environment that promotes mental well-being. This chapter provides insight on the following:

• Definition of mental health disorders and symptoms
• Specific mental health symptoms among athletes
• Prevalence of mental health disorders among athletes
• Role of the coach
• Creating an environment that supports mental well-being

Definition of mental health disorders and symptoms

A mental health disorder was defined by the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2013) as a ‘clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behaviour that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning’ (p. 20). Further, when an individual has a mental health disorder, he or she will usually experience significant distress during occupational, social, or other important events (APA, 2013).

It is possible for an individual to experience mental health symptoms (e.g. decreased interest or pleasure in sport or other activities, irritability, panic attacks, or significant preoccupation with calorific intake) without being defined as having a mental health disorder because the individual has not met the threshold (APA, 2013). Wakefield (2007) argued that this way of classifying mental health disorders was implemented to determine who is eligible for clinical treatment, with those being diagnosed as having a mental health disorder being eligible and those without this diagnosis being ineligible. More recently, scholars have argued that mental health should be viewed on a continuum between health and illness (Clark et al., 2017). As such, some athletes may display symptoms of mental health illness (e.g. sleep disorders, depressive symptoms, substance abuse) without having all of the symptoms for a clinical diagnosis or experiencing milder symptoms (Moesch et al., 2018). It is therefore important that coaches have a basic understanding of some of the mental health disorders and symptoms among athletes so that they can make earlier referrals for treatment, which has been found to be more effective than letting mental health symptoms deteriorate (Roberts et al., 2016).

Specific mental health symptoms among athletes

Reardon et al. (2019) conducted a systematic review of mental health among elite athletes and reported 11 different mental health conditions that have been reported among elite athletes. These include the following:

Sleep disorders or sleep concerns

A study featuring collegiate athletes from the United States revealed that 50% of them were getting less than the minimum requirement...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Introduction
• Part 1 Providing psychological training as a coach and mental health among athletes
• Part 2 Identifying the psychological needs of athletes
• Part 3 Facilitating awareness among athletes
• Part 4 Coaching different populations and providing psychological support to athletes with different needs
• Part 5 Relationships, support, and influence within coaching practice
• Part 6 Mental skills training for athletes
• References
• Index