“It’s my dream to work with Olympic athletes”: Neophyte sport psychologists’ expectations and initial experiences regarding service delivery

We examined trainee practitioners' initial experiences of applied sport psychology practice. Semi-structured interviews (4) were conducted over 6 months with 7 full-time MSc students before, during, and after the applied sport psychology module, when they were working with clients. Participants also kept reflective diaries over an 8-week period whilst working with clients. Findings included: (a) motivations and expectations of an ASP practice career, (b) perceptions of service delivery, (c) emotional demands, and (d) pivotal experiences. Findings extend previous literature on the initial stages of practitioner development, providing micro-level detail on aspects of the intense development process during this pivotal perio

Using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Athletes to Reduce Irrational Beliefs and Increase Unconditional Self-Acceptance

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York. The reported application of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) with athletes is growing but remains scarce within sport psychology literature. This study used a single-case multiple-baseline across participants design to investigate the effects of REBT on irrational self-depreciation beliefs and unconditional self-acceptance (USA) with three male mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes. Visual and statistical analyses indicate a reduction in total irrationality and self-depreciation and an increase in USA, which was maintained at 6 months post-REBT for two of the three athletes. Social validation data revealed positive changes in emotion management and performance in all athletes. The mechanisms by which REBT promoted changes in self-depreciation and USA are discussed as are recommendations regarding the future implementation of REBT with athletes

Philosophical Underpinnings of Coaching Practice Research

Research on coaching practice has mainly been undertaken through the disciplines of psychology and sociology. Very little scrutiny has been given to the philosophical underpinnings of these disciplinary positions and how they impact on research outputs in terms of descriptions and prescriptions. This article presents an overview of some of the most cited empirical research on coaching practice and shows how discipline and meta-theory have influenced a priori the results generated. Psychological approaches informed by scientism, and sociological approaches informed by interpretivism, present a dichotomized view of coaching practice, for example, concerning its relative simplicity and order. Yet these distinct disciplinary contributions remain important to the development of the field if it is understood that they contribute different layers of information and do different types of work. Once we have the meta-theoretical tools in place the results of this pluralism can be positioned and utilized. © 2013 Copyright National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE)

The Interplay of Space, Place and Identity: Transforming Our Learning Experiences in an Outdoor Setting

In this paper, we use a day-long professional development workshop for higher education faculty conducted in an outdoor setting as the starting point for an examination of the value of such activities. We explore the potential benefits, in terms of learning and holistic well-being, of educational activities designed to provide participants with sessions either in the natural environment or the built (urban) environment beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom. Drawing on the literature of ‘place-based learning’, the well-established traditions of some conference organizations, the emerging trend to mount such pre-conference workshops in the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE: Canada) and the feedback of past participants, we explore the nature of these experiences and the various outcomes, grappling with the challenge of identifying tangible ‘takeaways’ at the individual and community levels. We conclude with directions for further analysis of the role of this type of session in terms of conference pedagogy and means of measuring impact on the well-being, outlook, and practices of instructors in higher education

Confirmatory factor analysis of the thought occurrence questionnaire for sport (TOQS) among adolescent athletes

There is an inherent link between theory and measurement suggesting that validation of measures should be the first stage of theory testing. The aim of the present study was to cross-validate the factorial validity of the Thought Occurrence Questionnaire for Sport for use among adolescent athletes. National standard young athletes (Individual N_/204; Team N_/360) completed the TOQS questionnaire. Single-sample and multisample confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the psychometric integrity of the hypothesized three-factor correlated model. Multisample results demonstrated invariance for factor loadings and correlations between individual and team athletes. Internal consistency coefficients were over the .70 criterion for acceptability. Findings lend support to previous validation studies conducted on samples of adult athletes and suggest that the TOQS provides an equally valid measure for use among adolescent athletes. It is suggested that the TOQS can be used to investigate theoretical issues related to cognitive interference during competition