Does psychological skills’ training make sport more enjoyable? Case study of a young trampolinist

Scanlan and colleagues’ (1993: Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 15, 1–15) model of sport commitment outlined sport enjoyment as a key predictor of sport commitment. By increasing young athletes’ sport enjoyment, it may be possible to maintain their involvement in sport. Psychological skills training (PST) is one method suggested to increase sport enjoyment and other desirable psychological qualities such as self-esteem and perceived competence among young athletes (Weiss, 1991: The Sport Psychologist, 5, 335–354). Furthermore, many sport psychologists suggest that the goals of PST are to make sport more enjoyable as well as to enhance performance (Vealey, 1988: The Sport Psychologist, 2, 318–336). However, few studies report a measure of sport enjoyment following a psychological skills intervention. In the present study, we examined whether PST provided positive psychological benefits for a national level trampolinist over a 6 month period.