The Sport Psychology Consultant: Olympic Coaches’ Views

Abstract

Individual interviews were conducted with 17 Canadian Olympic coaches in order to assess sport psychology consultants and services provided to their athletes and teams in the 4 years leading up to the 1984 Olympic Games. The coaches represented a wide range of sports; all but 2 had worked directly with a sport psychology consultant in preparing their athletes for the Olympics. A total of 21 consultants were reviewed and evaluated. The coaches outlined their personal criteria for assessing the effectiveness of a sport psychology consultant and his or her mental training program. A consensus regarding desired personal consultant characteristics is presented, as well as coaches’ reasons for retaining or terminating the services of a sport psychology consultant.

A Qualitative Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Mental Skills Training Program for Youth Athletes

“…Furthermore, the positive endorsement and support of the MST program by the wider rugby National Governing Body in which these coaches are involved further reinforced the importance of MST for rugby performance. These findings are consistent with other studies wherein coaches from a variety of sports indicated considerable interest in the application of sport psychology techniques within their sport (Pain & Harwood, 2004;Partington & Orlick, 1987). Yet, in contrast to the current group of developmental rugby coaches, Pain and Harwood (2004) reported a lack of coach knowledge and awareness of sport psychology in English soccer academies.…”

Elite Disability Sport Coaches’ Views on Sport Psychology

“…All participants showed a favourable and positive perspective over the importance of psychological preparation, what was also found in several studies (Gould et al, 1999;Partington & Orlick, 1987;Sullivan & Hodge, 1991), and different reasons emerged from their statements. Half of the sample pointed out the importance of psychological preparation as one of the performance components.…”

“…This almost non-existent availability of sport psychologist services for coaches seems to be more related with disability sport, because research in non-disability sport field showed that elite coaches have some kind of previous experience with sport psychologists during their careers (Gould, Tammen, Murphy, & May, 1991;Johnson, Andersson, & Fallby, 2011;Partington & Orlick, 1987).…”

“…One of them even explained that sport psychologists should have an athletic background on the sport. Regarding the consultant styles and approaches, Partington and Orlick (1987) also stated that coaches valued consultants who showed interest in and readiness to learn about their sport. Similarly, Gould et al (1991) found that coaches from the Olympic level suggested that sport psychologists should improve their sport-specific knowledge.…”

“…Another erroneous assumption is that psychological support is only needed when deep-rooted psychological problems occur in psychologically "weak" athletes. The stigma that links the sport psychologist to a "shrink" is one of the major barriers that sport psychologists have to face (Partington & Orlick, 1987;Ravizza, 1988). Finally, some coaches believe that PST is a miraculous recipe for a quick improvement in performance.…”