Sport psychology: Needs and perspectives for research, education and application

Sport psychology has shown an increasing development in the past 25 years. A first focus is laid on the growth of research output as indicated by the number of publications. A more detailed analysis shows that some mainstream topics are very dominant in the international research literature whereas other themes are completely lacking. Possible biases are discussed as well as consequences for the body of knowledge in sport psychology. The need for a sound training in sport psychology is discussed in relation with the progress in sport psychology research. Different concepts of education in sport psychology with their respective background are compared and their impact on the development of sport psychology is discussed. The field of application, mainly in top level sport, is presented with a focus on professional standards and deontological codes. Conclusions are drawn with the aim to open new perspectives for research, education, and application of sport psychology.

Effects of anxiety on decision making and visual search behaviour in complex sport situations

Introduction Current empirical findings indicate that the efficiency of decision making (both for experts and near-experts) in simple situations is reduced under increased stress (Wilson, 2008). Explaining the phenomenon, the Attentional Control Theory (ACT, Eysenck et al., 2007) postulates an impairment of attentional processes resulting in a less efficient processing of visual information. From a practitioner’s perspective, it would be highly relevant to know whether this phenomenon can also be found in complex sport situations like in the game of football. Consequently, in the present study, decision making of football players was examined under regular vs. increased anxiety conditions. Methods 22 participants (11 experts and 11 near-experts) viewed 24 complex football situations (counterbalanced) in two anxiety conditions from the perspective of the last defender. They had to decide as fast and accurate as possible on the next action of the player in possession (options: shot on goal, dribble or pass to a designated team member) for equal numbers of trials in a near and far distance condition (based on the position of the player in possession). Anxiety was manipulated via a competitive environment, false feedback as well as ego threats. Decision time and accuracy, gaze behaviour (e.g., fixation duration on different locations) as well as state anxiety and mental effort were used as dependent variables and analysed with 2 (expertise) x 2 (distance) x 2 (anxiety) ANOVAs with repeated measures on the last two factors. Besides expertise differences, it was hypothesised that, based on ACT, increased anxiety reduces performance efficiency and impairs gaze behaviour. Results and Discussion Anxiety was manipulated successfully, indicated by higher ratings of state anxiety, F(1, 20) = 13.13, p < .01, ηp2 = .40. Besides expertise differences in decision making – experts responded faster, F(1, 20) = 11.32, p < .01, ηp2 = .36, and more accurate, F(1,20) = 23.93, p < .01, ηp2 = .55, than near-experts – decision time, F(1, 20) = 9.29, p < .01, ηp2 = .32, and mental effort, F(1, 20) = 7.33, p = .01, ηp2 = .27, increased for both groups in the high anxiety condition. This result confirms the ACT assumption that processing efficiency is reduced when being anxious. Replicating earlier findings, a significant expertise by distance interaction could be observed, F(1, 18) = 18.53, p < .01, ηp2 = .51), with experts fixating longer on the player in possession or the ball in the near distance and longer on other opponents, teammates and free space in the far distance condition. This shows that experts are able to adjust their gaze behaviour to affordances of displayed playing patterns. Additionally, a three way interaction was found, F(1, 18) = 7.37 p = .01, ηp2 = .29, revealing that experts utilised a reduced number of fixations in the far distance condition when being anxious indicating a reduced ability to pick up visual information. Since especially the visual search behaviour of experts was impaired, the ACT prediction that particularly top-down processes are affected by anxiety could be confirmed. Taken together, the results show that sports performance is negatively influenced by anxiety since longer response times, higher mental effort and inefficient visual search behaviour were observed. From a practitioner’s perspective, this finding might suggest preferring (implicit) perceptual cognitive training; however, this recommendation needs to be empirically supported in intervention studies. References: Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7, 336-353. Wilson, M. (2008). From processing efficiency to attentional control: A mechanistic account of the anxiety-performance relationship. Int. Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1, 184-201.

Effects of anxiety on decision making and visual search behaviour in complex sport situations

Based on the Attentional Control Theory (ACT; Eysenck et al., 2007), performance efficiency is decreased in high-anxiety situations because worrying thoughts compete for attentional resources. A repeated-measures design (high/low state anxiety and high/low perceptual task demands) was used to test ACT explanations. Complex football situations were displayed to expert and non-expert football players in a decision making task in a controlled laboratory setting. Ratings of state anxiety and pupil diameter measures were used to check anxiety manipulations. Dependent variables were verbal response time and accuracy, mental effort ratings and visual search behavior (e.g., visual search rate). Results confirmed that an anxiety increase, indicated by higher state-anxiety ratings and larger pupil diameters, reduced processing efficiency for both groups (higher response times and mental effort ratings). Moreover, high task demands reduced the ability to shift attention between different locations for the expert group in the high anxiety condition only. Since particularly experts, who were expected to use more top-down strategies to guide visual attention under high perceptual task demands, showed less attentional shifts in the high compared to the low anxiety condition, as predicted by ACT, anxiety seems to impair the shifting function by interrupting the balance between top-down and bottom-up processes.

Analysis of sport psychology consultancy at three Olympic Games: Facts and figures

Objectives Despite many reports on best practises regarding onsite psychological services, little research has attempted to systematically explore the frequency, issues, nature and client groups of onsite sport psychology consultancy at the Olympic Games. The present paper will fill this gap through a systematic analysis of the sport psychology consultancy of the Swiss team for the Olympic Games of 2006 in Turin, 2008 in Beijing and 2010 in Vancouver. Design Descriptive research design. Methods The day reports of the official sport psychologist were analysed. Intervention issues were labelled using categories derived from previous research and divided into the following four intervention-issue dimensions: “general performance”, “specific Olympic performance”, “organisational” and “personal” issues. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi square statistics and odds ratios. Results Across the Olympic Games, between 11% and 25% of the Swiss delegation used the sport psychology services. On average, the sport psychologist provided between 2.1 and 4.6 interventions per day. Around 50% of the interventions were informal interventions. Around 30% of the clients were coaches. The most commonly addressed issues were performance related. An association was observed between previous collaboration, intervention likelihood and intervention theme. Conclusions Sport psychologists working at the Olympic Games are fully engaged with daily interventions and should have developed ideally long-term relationships with clients to truly help athletes with general performance issues. Critical incidents, working with coaches, brief contact interventions and team conflicts are specific features of the onsite consultancy. Practitioners should be trained to deal with these sorts of challenges.

Sport as a means of immigrant youth integration: An empirical study of sports, intercultural relations, and immigrant youth integration in Switzerland

Der Beitrag geht der Bedeutung des Sports für die Integration von jugendlichen Einwanderern in die Aufnahmegesellschaft nach. Aufgrund von Daten einer Querschnittstudie bei 454 Jugendlichen der ersten Einwanderergeneration aus Gymnasien, Berufsschulen und Vorlehreeinrichtungen der deutschen Schweiz zeigen unsere Ergebnisse, dass der Sport für die meisten Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund ein wichtiger Teil ihrer Freizeit darstellt, auch wenn der Anteil von Migrantinnen, die Mitglied eines Sportvereins sind, im Vergleich zu Migranten zweimal niedriger ausfällt. Zudem haben sowohl männliche wie weibliche Jugendliche mit Migrationshintergrund, die Sport in einem Sportverein ausüben, deutlich mehr persönliche Kontakte mit Schweizer Peers während ihrer sportlichen Aktivitäten. Jugendliche, die von häufigen persönlichen Kontakt mit Schweizer Peers im Sport berichten, haben auch deutlich mehr interkulturelle Kontakte in ihrer Freizeit generell und innerhalb des Kreises ihren engsten Freunde. Schließlich vermögen häufige Kontakte mit Schweizer Peers im Sport das Gefühl der jugendlichen Einwanderer, in der Schweiz integriert zu sein, zu erhöhen.

Ego depletion, attentional control, and decision making in sport

Objectives: Athletes differ at staying focused on performance and avoiding distraction. Drawing on the strength model of self-control we investigated whether athletes do not only differ inter-individually in their disposition of staying focused and avoiding distraction but also intra-individually in their situational availability of focused attention. Design/method: In the present experiment we hypothesized that basketball players (N = 40) who have sufficient self-control resources will perform relatively better on a computer based decision making task under distraction conditions compared to a group who's self-control resources have been depleted in a prior task requiring self-control. Results: The results are in line with the strength model of self-control by demonstrating that an athlete's capability to focus attention relies on the situational availability of self-control strength. Conclusions: The current results indicate that having sufficient self-control strength in interference rich sport settings is likely to be beneficial for decision making.

How do sport clubs recruit volunteers? Analyzing and developing a typology of decision-making processes on recruiting volunteers in sport clubs.

Effective strategies for recruiting volunteers who are prepared to make a long-term commitment to formal positions are essential for the survival of voluntary sport clubs. This article examines the decision-making processes in relation to these efforts. Under the assumption of bounded rationality, the garbage can model is used to grasp these decision-making processes theoretically and access them empirically. Based on case study framework an in-depth analysis of recruitment practices was conducted in nine selected sport clubs. Results showed that the decision-making processes are generally characterized by a reactive approach in which dominant actors try to handle personnel problems of recruitment in the administration and sport domains through routine formal committee work and informal networks. In addition, it proved possible to develop a typology that deliver an overview of different decision-making practices in terms of the specific interplay of the relevant components of process control (top-down vs. bottom-up) and problem processing (situational vs. systematic).

Sport Psychology. Theories and Applications for Performance, Health and Humanity.

This congress proceedings volume includes all abstracts submitted to the 14th European Congress of Sport Psychology of the European Federation of Sport Psychology FEPSAC that have been accepted by the scientific evaluation committee. Content: six keynote lectures, Panteleimon ("Paddy") Ekkekakis: Escape from Cognitivism: Exercise as Hedonic Experience; Sergio Lara-Bercial and Cliff Mallett: Serial Winning Coaches – Vision, People and Environment; Kari Fasting: Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport – Implications for Sport Psychologists; Claudia Voelcker-Rehage: Benefits of Physical Activity and Fitness for Lifelong Motor and Cognitive Development – Brain and Behaviour; Nancy J. Cooke: Interactive Team Cognition: Focusing on Team Dynamics; Chris Harwood: Doing Sport Psychology? Critical Reflections as a Scientist-Practitioner. Abstracts of 11 invited symposia, 65 submitted symposia, 8 special sessions, and 5 poster sessions.

Sudden cardiac arrest in sports - need for uniform registration: A Position Paper from the Sport Cardiology Section of the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation

There are large variations in the incidence, registration methods and reported causes of sudden cardiac arrest/sudden cardiac death (SCA/SCD) in competitive and recreational athletes. A crucial question is to which degree these variations are genuine or partly due to methodological incongruities. This paper discusses the uncertainties about available data and provides comprehensive suggestions for standard definitions and a guide for uniform registration parameters of SCA/SCD. The parameters include a definition of what constitutes an 'athlete', incidence calculations, enrolment of cases, the importance of gender, ethnicity and age of the athlete, as well as the type and level of sporting activity. A precise instruction for autopsy practice in the case of a SCD of athletes is given, including the role of molecular samples and evaluation of possible doping. Rational decisions about cardiac preparticipation screening and cardiac safety at sport facilities requires increased data quality concerning incidence, aetiology and management of SCA/SCD in sports. Uniform standard registration of SCA/SCD in athletes and leisure sportsmen would be a first step towards this goal.

Causes, forms and consequences of the professionalization of international sport federa-tions in Switzerland: Conceptual framework and first results

Synopsis: Sport organisations are facing multiple challenges originating from an increasingly complex and dynamic environment in general, and from internal changes in particular. Our study seeks to reveal and analyse the causes for professionalization processes in international sport federations, the forms resulting from it, as well as related consequences. Abstract: AIM OF ABSTRACT/PAPER - RESEARCH QUESTION Sport organisations are facing multiple challenges originating from an increasingly complex and dynamic environment in general, and from internal changes in particular. In this context, professionalization seems to have been adopted by sport organisations as an appropriate strategy to respond to pressures such as becoming more “business-like”. The ongoing study seeks to reveal and analyse the internal and external causes for professionalization processes in international sport federations, the forms resulting from it (e.g. organisational, managerial, economic) as well as related consequences on objectives, values, governance methods, performance management or again rationalisation. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND/LITERATURE REVIEW Studies on sport as specific non-profit sector mainly focus on the prospect of the “professionalization of individuals” (Thibault, Slack & Hinings, 1991), often within sport clubs (Thiel, Meier & Cachay, 2006) and national sport federations (Seippel, 2002) or on organisational change (Griginov & Sandanski, 2008; Slack & Hinings, 1987, 1992; Slack, 1985, 2001), thus leaving broader analysis on governance, management and professionalization in sport organisations an unaccomplished task. In order to further current research on above-mentioned topics, our intention is to analyse causes, forms and consequences of professionalisation processes in international sport federations. The social theory of action (Coleman, 1986; Esser, 1993) has been defined as appropriate theoretical framework, deriving in the following a multi-level framework for the analysis of sport organisations (Nagel, 2007). In light of the multi-level framework, sport federations are conceptualised as corporative actors whose objectives are defined and implemented with regard to the interests of member organisations (Heinemann, 2004) and/or other pressure groups. In order to understand social acting and social structures (Giddens 1984) of sport federations, two levels are in the focus of our analysis: the macro level examining the environment at large (political, social, economic systems etc.) and the meso level (Esser, 1999) examining organisational structures, actions and decisions of the federation’s headquarter as well as member organisations. METHODOLOGY, RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA ANALYSIS The multi-level framework mentioned seeks to gather and analyse information on causes, forms and consequences of professionalization processes in sport federations. It is applied in a twofold approach: first an exploratory study based on nine semi-structured interviews with experts from umbrella sport organisations (IOC, WADA, ASOIF, AIOWF, etc.) as well as the analysis of related documents, relevant reports (IOC report 2000 on governance reform, Agenda 2020, etc.) and important moments of change in the Olympic Movement (Olympic revenue share, IOC evaluation criteria, etc.); and secondly several case studies. Whereas the exploratory study seeks more the causes for professionalization on an external, internal and headquarter level as depicted in the literature, the case studies rather focus on forms and consequences. Applying our conceptual framework, the analysis of forms is built around three dimensions: 1) Individuals (persons and positions), 2) Processes, structures (formalisation, specialisation), 3) Activities (strategic planning). With regard to consequences, we centre our attention on expectations of and relationships with stakeholders (e.g. cooperation with business partners), structure, culture and processes (e.g. governance models, performance), and expectations of and relationships with member organisations (e.g. centralisation vs. regionalisation). For the case studies, a mixed-method approach is applied to collect relevant data: questionnaires for rather quantitative data, interviews for rather qualitative data, as well as document and observatory analysis. RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS With regard to causes of professionalization processes, we analyse the content of three different levels: 1. the external level, where the main pressure derives from financial resources (stakeholders, benefactors) and important turning points (scandals, media pressure, IOC requirements for Olympic sports); 2. the internal level, where pressure from member organisations turned out to be less decisive than assumed (little involvement of member organisations in decision-making); 3. the headquarter level, where specific economic models (World Cups, other international circuits, World Championships), and organisational structures (decision-making procedures, values, leadership) trigger or hinder a federation’s professionalization process. Based on our first analysis, an outline for an economic model is suggested, distinguishing four categories of IFs: “money-generating IFs” being rather based on commercialisation and strategic alliances; “classical Olympic IFs” being rather reactive and dependent on Olympic revenue; “classical non-Olympic IFs” being rather independent of the Olympic Movement; and “money-receiving IFs” being dependent on benefactors and having strong traditions and values. The results regarding forms and consequences will be outlined in the presentation. The first results from the two pilot studies will allow us to refine our conceptual framework for subsequent case studies, thus extending our data collection and developing fundamental conclusions. References: Bayle, E., & Robinson, L. (2007). A framework for understanding the performance of national governing bodies of sport. European Sport Management Quarterly, 7, 249–268 Chantelat, P. (2001). 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