Abstract
One reason sport psychologists teach psychological skills is to enhance performance in sport; but the value of psychological skills for young athletes is questionable because of the qualitative and quantitative differences between children and adults in their understanding of abstract concepts such as mental skills. To teach these skills effectively to young athletes, sport psychologists need to appreciate what young athletes implicitly understand about such skills because maturational (e.g., cognitive, social) and environmental (e.g., coaches) factors can influence the progressive development of children and youth. In the present qualitative study, we explored young athletes’ (aged 10–15 years) understanding of four basic psychological skills: goal setting, mental imagery, self-talk, and relaxation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 158-172 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2010 |
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Keywords
- young athletes
- sport psychology
- psychological skills
Cite this
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What do young athletes implicitly understand about psychological skills? / McCarthy, Paul; Jones, Marc; Harwood, Chris; Olivier, Steve.
In: Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 2, 01.06.2010, p. 158-172.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - What do young athletes implicitly understand about psychological skills?
AU - McCarthy, Paul
AU - Jones, Marc
AU - Harwood, Chris
AU - Olivier, Steve
N1 - <p>Originally published in: Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (2010), 4 (2), pp.158-172.</p>
PY - 2010/6/1
Y1 - 2010/6/1
N2 - One reason sport psychologists teach psychological skills is to enhance performance in sport; but the value of psychological skills for young athletes is questionable because of the qualitative and quantitative differences between children and adults in their understanding of abstract concepts such as mental skills. To teach these skills effectively to young athletes, sport psychologists need to appreciate what young athletes implicitly understand about such skills because maturational (e.g., cognitive, social) and environmental (e.g., coaches) factors can influence the progressive development of children and youth. In the present qualitative study, we explored young athletes’ (aged 10–15 years) understanding of four basic psychological skills: goal setting, mental imagery, self-talk, and relaxation.
AB - One reason sport psychologists teach psychological skills is to enhance performance in sport; but the value of psychological skills for young athletes is questionable because of the qualitative and quantitative differences between children and adults in their understanding of abstract concepts such as mental skills. To teach these skills effectively to young athletes, sport psychologists need to appreciate what young athletes implicitly understand about such skills because maturational (e.g., cognitive, social) and environmental (e.g., coaches) factors can influence the progressive development of children and youth. In the present qualitative study, we explored young athletes’ (aged 10–15 years) understanding of four basic psychological skills: goal setting, mental imagery, self-talk, and relaxation.
KW - young athletes
KW - sport psychology
KW - psychological skills
M3 - Article
VL - 4
SP - 158
EP - 172
JO - Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology
JF - Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology
SN - 1932-9261
IS - 2
ER -