Familial and peer influences on sport participation among adolescents in rural South African secondary schools

This study was designed to investigate the influences of family and peers on sport participation amongst adolescents in secondary schools at Hlanganani rural area of Limpopo Province, South Africa. A total of 172 learners (108 females and 64 males) attending three public secondary schools in Hlanganani rural area volunteered to participate in the study. Results indicated that adolescents preferred peers to family for support in sport participation. In terms of gender, no significant differences (p>0.05) were noted between mean values for school boys and girls with regard to family influence. Boys reported more tangible support, whereas girls indicated a preference for emotional support. Sport participation among learners is likely to increase when they receive informational, tangible, emotional and appraisal support from their parents and peers

The relationship between mental skills and level of cricket participation

Research findings have supported a relationship between psychological characteristics and optimal performance states, indicating that elite and successful sports participants are more motivated, committed, self-confident, focused and able to peak under pressure compared to non-elite and less successful participants. The reason for this is that a human being’s biomechanical and physiological harmonisation of movement is mediated by various aspects of psychological involvement. The psychological components of physical-skills execution in sport can be enhanced by the corrective application of mental-skills training. Personalised mental-skills training enables participants to understand their cognitions in order to allow a degree of flow in the coordination and execution of task-related skills through the various mood states of participation. A participant’s ability to control the mental and emotional aspects associated with competition not only facilitates task performance but also serves as a psychological keystone of self-belief and wellbeing. Sports psychology has recently directed its focus to identifying psychological skills relevant to different types of individual and team sports for the purpose of providing on-the-field psychological support. Investigations in South Africa, addressing the psychological constructs conducive to performance in cricket are limited, at both the professional and the amateur levels of competition. At this stage, there are no documented findings available in which the relationship between mental skills and skilled performance in cricket is addressed. Therefore, research questions for this study are formulated as: “Are there significant differences in the psychological background information on cricket players from different levels of cricket competition?” “Is there a significant relationship between mental skills and the level of cricket player participation?” “Is there a significant relationship between mental skills and the specialised roles played in cricket?” “Is there is a significant relationship between mental skills and batting order in cricket?” The study was approached from a quantitative (descriptive) perspective since it was the perceptions and mental skills relative to cricket players’ levels of participation that were assessed. A questionnaire assessing the general perspectives on psychology of respondents, and three other standardised psychometric measures (Competitive Anxiety Inventory-2 [Martens et al., 1990]; The Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 [Smith et al., 1995], and Bull’s Mental Skills Questionnaire [Bull et al., 1996]) with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient ranging between 0.79 and 0.90, were used as research instruments. These Likert-type scale questionnaires were administered to 127 cricket players (30.7% Junior Academy; 53.6% Premier League/Senior Academy and 15.7% Senior Provincial players) to explore their general psychological background information and the mental skills differences between three progressive levels of cricket participation established and recognised by the Northerns Cricket Union (NCU) in the Pretoria Gauteng region of South Africa. Other aims were to investigate the relationship between mental skills and the different tasks (e.g. batting, bowling, wicket keeping) performed in cricket and as well as to investigate the relationship between mental skills and batting order. Overall results obtained from the respondents’ general psychological background information revealed that cricket players, regardless of level of participation, have insufficient exposure to, training in and knowledge of the psychological aspects associated with cricket performance. It is evident from the results that cricket players spent limited time on psychological-skills training and that they exercise only the physiological and skills-related aspects of the game. One-way analysis of variance (one-way Anova) indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the three levels of participating respondents in terms of their performance in the various mental-skills and coping-skills subscales. Analysis of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 subscales indicated no statistically significant differences in the cognitive and somatic anxiety scores between the three levels of participation. However, a statistically significant difference was found in terms of self-confidence in the senior provincial players whose scores were higher on this construct than those of the other two levels of cricket participants. A comparison of the performance of the various specialised roles in cricket on the mental skills questionnaire indicated that the all-rounders had significantly higher imagery ability and motivation scores than batsmen and bowlers. The various specialised roles showed a very similar outcome on the cognitive, somatic and state self-confidence levels. A significant difference in batting order was revealed in top-order batsmen scoring the highest on motivation and lower-order batsmen scoring the highest on coachability. No other mental-skills difference existed between the different groups of batting order. The conclusion was that, in essence, there are no mental-skills differences between cricket players from various levels of participation in the one-day cricket format. A definite psychological-skills profile did come to the fore, indicating that successful cricket participants, regardless of what level of competition they compete in, express high proficiencies in motivation, self-confidence, coachability, imagery ability, concentration ability and peaking under pressure. The study concludes with recommendations for expanding knowledge on the direction and intensity of mental skills in contributing to cricket performance. A more holistic view on the psychological differences between successful and less successful cricket participants at the same level of participation is recommended as well as a comparison between the mental skills of one-day and multiple-day cricket players. Sports psychologists and cricket coaches are also encouraged to collate their experience and expertise in developing and implementing individualised psychological-skills-training (PST) programmes to satisfy the players’ psychological needs when dealing with the performance demands of the game. Implications for further investigations are listed since there were several aspects that did not fall within the aims of this investigation.Dissertation (Master of Arts)--University of Pretoria, 2012.Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciencesunrestricte

Mindfulness: A foothold for Rogers's humanistic person-centred approach

This article probed and contextualised the strong parallels between meditation derived mindfulness and Rogers's humanistic person-centred (PC) approach. This was done through a conceptual and evaluative literature review of the PC framework in relation to definitive descriptions of mindfulness. Elements of mindfulness within the core conditions of PC therapy were explored and verified. Quotations, pragmatic, behavioural descriptions and explications provided evidence of a shared ideology inherent in both concepts via “way of being”. The findings suggested that mindfulness cultivates, harmonises and deepens essential therapist qualities in PC therapy. This review article could supply a rationale for significant inferences in the implementation of meditation-inspired activities in the practical preparation of trainee therapists as well as optimising proficiency and refinement in professional practice

Essential competencies in contemporary applied sport psychology: Comparative perspectives from SA and the United Kingdom.

Investigation of essential competencies in present-day sport psychology practice is critical to keeping the training, education and regulation standards of applied sport psychology (ASP) practitioners at the forefront of research (Fletcher & Maher, 2013). Moreover, investigation is also needed to offer a new rationale for promoting academic inquiry in developed and developing contexts. This study identified essential competencies in contemporary sport psychology practice and explored the comparative views of a purposefully selected sample (n=9) of expert ASP practitioners/psychologists. Data were gathered by means of semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK). Interview data were analyzed using thematic content analyses. Main findings suggested that a relational and dependable character, a client-centred focus, an all-encompassing counselling skills-set (facilitative and restorative), and explicit expertise in the domains of psychology, sport and sport science are indispensable to current sport psychology practice. Views generated by both stakeholders were remarkably similar and overlapped considerably, which indicated the advanced levels of sport psychology praxis in both contexts. It was recommended that behavioural indicators (personal character) and certain skills prerequisites merit special consideration for candidates entering ASP training and practice. An interdisciplinary training model in ASP with acquired competency in both kinesiology and psychology-based training should become the accepted standard in the training and development of practitioners for the purpose of garnering an inclusive capacity to render client-centred services

Transplant recipients’ motivational orientation towards sport participation and physical activity enjoyment at the 2019 World Transplant Games in Newcastle-Gateshead UK

This study adopted a descriptive correlational design to identify organ transplant athletes’ motivational behaviour and level of physical activity enjoyment during the 2019 World Transplant Games. The causal relationship between motivational behaviour and enjoyment was also determined. Data was collected through questionnaires during the event that tapped participants’ demographic information and responses to the Task and Ego Orientation Questionnaire, Sport Motivation Scale-2 and Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale. Descriptive statistics revealed that transplant athletes (n = 119; Mage = 52.92 years, SD = 13.51) find sport mostly enjoyable whilst holding a strong task-oriented approach towards sport participation with high approximations of intrinsic, integrated and identified motivation. Male and female athletes also shared a relatively similar motivational profile with male athletes reporting significantly higher levels of sport enjoyment compared to their female counterparts. Inferential statistics further revealed significant associations between most dimensions of motivation and level of enjoyment, of which gender and certain aspects of motivation were exposed as significant predictors of athletes’ reported enjoyment in sport. It is advised that autonomous regulatory behaviours be garnered in transplant recipients looking to start/continue sport participation as it proved to be prime correlates and determinants of enjoyment in sport

The relationship between psychological skills and specialized role in cricket.

Psychological skills related to positional play are evident in sport. It is believed that specific demands associated with playing position or role within a team sport require a unique set of psychological skills. This study examined the relationship between psychological skills and specialised role amongst 127 South African cricket players. The subjects were divided into 4 primary role groupings namely batsman (n=30), bowler (n=32), all-rounder (n=61) and wicket keeper (n=4). The wicket keeper group's results were excluded from the analysis due to an under-representation of wicketkeepers in the sample. Psychological skills were assessed by means of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (Smith et al., 1995) and Bull's Mental Skills Questionnaire (Bull et al., 1996). One-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) indicated no significant differences between the psychological skills of the various role groupings. However, there were tendencies for all-rounders to be more psychologically skilled than bowlers and batsmen. It was concluded that there is no distinctive psychological profile for classifying cricket players into performing specialised roles in the sport

Relationship between emotional intelligence and components of competitive state anxiety among south African female field-hockey players

Emotional awareness and regulation are often associated with improved performance in sports, which raises the question as to the role of emotional intelligence in athletes’ optimal performance states. This study determined the relationship between emotional intelligence and components of competitive state anxiety levels among a sample of senior-level South African female field-hockey players (n = 60, M age = 21.57, SD = 3.65). The Emotional Intelligence Scale and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 were used to collect the data. Descriptive analyses revealed an above-average emotional intelligence and a low somatic/cognitive anxiety, with self-confidence being low to moderate, among players. Direction of cognitive and somatic anxiety was perceived as neutral, while self-confidence levels were perceived to be facilitative to performance. Pearson’s correlation analyses revealed positive associations between players’ management of their own and others’ emotions, and self-confidence as well as a negative association with cognitive anxiety. A positive association between total emotional intelligence and self-confidence was also revealed with results from the simple linear regression analyses confirming the significant influence emotional intelligence has on players’ competitive state anxiety experiences. Essentially, the utility of emotional intelligence intervention in aid of controlling cognitive anxiety and improving and maintaining self-confidence is advocated in coaching and sport psychology practice

Emotional intelligence and psychological skills application among female field-hockey players

Emotional intelligence is often associated with higher psychological functioning, leading to an increase in the awareness of psychological skills application in sports. We examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological skills application among a sample of senior-level South African female field-hockey players (n = 60). Participants completed the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) and the Psychological Skills Inventory (PSI). We utilised bivariate correlations to assess the relationship between variables and linear regression to predict players’ level of psychological skills application from emotional intelligence scores. Results indicated several significant correlations between the dimensions of emotional intelligence and players’ psychological skills. Further, emotional intelligence seems to be a significant predictor of mental rehearsal and total psychological skill scores. Emotional intelligence appears to be a potential facilitator of psychological skills application in high level field-hockey participation and performance

Irrational Performance Beliefs and Mental Well-Being Upon Returning to Sport During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Test of Mediation by Intolerance of Uncertainty

Purpose: This study examined the extent to which irrational performance beliefs and intolerance of uncertainty co-occur in relation to mental well-being among a sample of athletes and coaches (N = 94, M age = 31.99, SD = 12.81) upon their return to sport following COVID-19 disruptions. Methods and Results: Despite the parity in views, independent samples t-test results identified three significant differences in the tested variables between athletes and coaches, which suggested that athletes are more likely to entertain depreciative thoughts about performances and react more aversively to uncertainty, whereas coaches reported a better mental well-being state. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis confirmed a significant positive relationship between composite irrational performance beliefs and intolerance of uncertainty scores, with both these variables being inversely related to mental well-being. Results from a simple atemporal mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro verified that intolerance of uncertainty fully mediated the adverse effect irrational beliefs exert on mental well-being. Conclusion: Sports psychology practitioners within the framework of REBT are advised to explore their orientation of modifying irrational beliefs aligned to clients’ perceptions and tolerance of uncertainty in sport through the inclusion of IU-specific awareness and behavioral experiments

The relationship between mental skills and level of cricket participation

The purpose of this study was to compare the mental-skills differences at participatory level among three progressive levels of cricket participation recognised by the Northerns Cricket Union (NCU) in the Pretoria Gauteng region of South Africa. The study sample included 39 junior academy players, 68 premier league club/senior academy players and 20 first-class senior provincial players (N=127). Mental skills were assessed by means of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (ACSI-28) (Smith et al., 1995) and the Bull’s Mental Skills Questionnaire (Bull et al., 1996). One-way analysis of variance (one-way Anova) indicated that there were no differences between the respondents in the three levels of participation as regards their performance on the various mental-skills subscales. A definite psychological-skills profile did come to the fore, indicating that successful cricket participants, regardless of their level of participation, expressed high proficiencies in motivation, self-confidence, concentration ability, imagery ability, coachability and peaking under pressure. The essential conclusion was that there are no mental-skills differences between the various levels of cricket-playing performances in the one-day cricket format. However the study did reveal that mental skills are key antecedents of successful cricket participation and development.http://www.ajol.info/journal_index.php?jid=153&ab=ajpherd2015-03am201