for a College Basketball Player

Transcription

1 The Sport Psychologist, 1993, 7, Copyright O 1993 Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. A Yearly Mental Training Program for a College Basketball Player Carolyn Savoy Dalhousie University The purpose of this case study was to assess the characteristics, prescribe a collaborative mental training program, and evaluate the performance progress of a NCAA Division I female basketball player across a season of play. The assessment of the player included Nideffer's (1981) Test for Attentional and Interpersonal Style and an interview with the athlete using Kroll's (1979) Competitive Athletic Stress Scale. Based on this assessment, a psychological skills training program was developed for the athlete during the off-season. The athlete was monitored from preseason to the end of postseason through observation and interviews. The collaborative mental training program which was employed included imagery, centering, focusing, and~eiergizing. The evaluation of the athlete indicated a decrease in pregame anxiety, and an improvement in game performance statistics, practice performance, and the coach's overall evaluation of the athlete. Interest in applied sport psychology, or mental training with athletes, emerged during the late 1970s in the United States and has become extremely popular since that time. The term psychological skills training (PST) may be defined as techniques designed to teach or enhance mental skills that may enhance performance in a competitive setting (Vealey, 1988). Psychological techniques such as imagery, relaxation, and attentional focusing have all received attention in the applied sport psychology literature with regard to enhancing sport performance. For example, research has demonstrated that imagery can enhance the transfer of skill from the practice session to the actual event performance (Buckles, 1984; Feltz & Landers, 1983; Hall & Erffmeyer, 1983; Ryan & Simons, 1982; Seabourne, Weinberg, Jackson, & Suinn, 1985; Suinn, 1972). The concept of centering and maintaining an effective attentional focus is espoused as an important factor in optimal sport performance (Nideffer, 1993; Orlick, 1986). Teaching athletes to optimize arousal to increase activation and energy for competition is another example of a PST technique or strategy (Harris & Williams, 1993). Often, PST programs in sport examine multiple techniques used in combination such as imagery, relaxation, and self-talk (Hall & Rodgers, 1989; Kendall, Carolyn Savoy is with the School of Recreation, Physical, and Health Education, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS Canada B3H 3J5.

2 Hyraiko, Martin, & Kendall, 1990; McCaffrey & Orlick, 1989). Botterill (1987) and Nideffer (1981) suggest that a combination of relaxation, imagery, positive self-talk, energizing, centering, and focusing should be used to attempt to facilitate overall competitive performance. Researchers also emphasize the importance of organizing and implementing the PST program around the individual characteristics and personal performance requirements of an athlete (Haslam, 1990; Weinberg & Williams, 1993). Meyers and Schleser (1980) employed a collaborative PST program with a male college basketball player to enhance game performance. The athlete identified scenes in which his concentration was disrupted by personal problems or scenes in which he had trouble making decisions. The results of the collaborative intervention indicated that the athlete's game performance did improve in total points per game, field goal percentage, field goals made, and percentage of team scoring. Silva (1982) found similar results when he intervened with a male college basketball player who experienced overarousal, which led to fouling opposing players. The athlete identified rebounding and defense as the areas in which he committed his fouls. Silva worked with the athlete to develop new cognitive sets or attentional focuses in these situations using daily imagery. Following the intervention, the subject reduced fouling by one foul per game and increased his playing time by four minutes per game. The specific psychological skills of interest in this case study were arousal/ anxiety control and attentional focusing. The psychological ability of an individual to control arousal is a key factor that separates good performances from poor performances for advanced players (orlick, 1986). ~et&r performers are able to control arousal when they perform in anxiety-provoking games or events. When arousal increases above the moderate level and performance decreases, anxiety control skills are needed. Arousal control in sport usually implies reducing arousal through anxiety-management techniques such as relaxation, imagery, centering, and/or focusing (Gill, 1986). Theory and research in competitive anxiety have indicated that athletes exhibit both cognitive and somatic manifestations of anxiety. These types of anxiety have been shown to influence performance differently. Thus, it is important to evaluate athletes' unique responses to competition so as to implement a PST program that is most effective for their unique needs (Martens, Vealey, & Burton, 1990). Gould, Petlichkoff, Simons, and Vevera (1987) examined the relationships between the CSAI-2 subscales and pistol-shooting performance. The authors found that somatic anxiety significantly influenced performance more than cognitive anxiety and that confidence was negatively related to performance. Bird and Horn (1990) conducted a study comparing mental errors in a game and level of cognitive anxiety in female high school varsity softball players. They found that cognitive anxiety was directly related to mental errors which occur in a sport performance. Stress-related factors contribute to an increase in arousal and a decrease in performance (Nideffer, 1981). Therefore, it is imperative that the stress-inducing factors be identified so that the athlete can learn to recognize and cope with the stressors that are negatively affecting performance. Coping techniques can assist in lowering arousal to a level where performance is enhanced. Coping techniques can also assist in raising the level of arousal, when an athlete is not anticipating

3 Mental Training Program 175 the event and is underaroused, to a level where performance is enhanced (Gill, 1986; Martens, 1987; Meyers & Schleser, 1980; Rushall, 1989). Based on the research found on psychological skills training programs that reduce arousal and enhance performance, the purpose of this case study was to assess the characteristics, prescribe a collaborative mental training program, and evaluate the performance progress of a female basketball player throughout the preseason, regular season, and postseason play. Subject Method The subject was a 19-year-old female basketball player who was a starter on a top-10 ranked NCAA Division I basketball team. Her coach believed she had the potential to be one of the most outstanding basketball players at the university level. The sport psychology consultant (SPC) was approached by the coach to assist the athlete in developing her potential. The coach believed that the athlete could make a greater contribution to the team than she had the previous year if she were mentally tougher and played with more emotion. The athlete agreed to meet with the sport psychology consultant in an effort to improve her performance. Instrumentation Competitive Athletic Stress Scale. Kroll's (1979) Competitive Athletic Stress Scale (CASS) was used to assess the stressors that cause anxiety during competition. The five clusters identified by Kroll (1979) included specific items in the area of somatic complaints, fear of failure, feeling of inadequacy, loss of control, and guilt. The CASS is used as an interview technique to assess the specific elements of competition that cause anxiety for the individual athlete. Based upon the stressors identified by the athlete, a program may be designed to help reduce anxiety by eliminating the elements which cause the stress (Kroll, 1979). Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style. Nideffer's (1981) Test for Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) was used to measure attentional and interpersonal characteristics of the athlete and to help develop an individualized psychological training program for the athlete. The TAIS ia a 144-item inventory designed to investigate the relationship between attentional abilities and performance. The TAIS has been found to be reliable and valid (Nideffer, 1987). Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (Martens et al., 1990) was used to measure state anxiety. The CSAI- 2 contains 27 items which measure cognitive and somatic anxiety and selfconfidence. There are nine items for each anxiety measure. The subject was instructed to answer the inventory based on how she felt right now. Research has indicated that the CSAI-2 is a valid and reliable inventory for evaluating state anxiety in sport specific settings (Gould et al., 1987; Martens et al., 1990). Per$ormance Statistics. Game statistics were employed in this study to measure performance of closed and open skills. These statistics were recorded and averaged for each block of three games for a total of 12 blocks in the study. For the closed skill, foul shooting percentage was used. The open skills evaluated for each game were (a) field goal percentage, (b) points per minute played, (c)

4 176 Savoy rebounds per minute played, (d) steals per minute played, (e) turnovers per minute played, and (f) fouls per minute played. The reason these statistics were averaged over minutes played was to give a clearer picture of the player's productivity while on the basketball court because all players do not receive the same amount of playing time. Procedure For the purposes of this study, off-season was defined as April to the end of August, preseason was from late August to mid-november, regular season was mid-november to the end of February, and postseason was the month of March. The athlete was assessed in the off-season using the CASS (Kroll, 1979), the TAIS (Nideffer, 1981), and an interview with the SPC. A collaborative intervention was designed by the athlete and SPC for use by the athlete during the off-season. The preseason assessment by the athlete, coach, and SPC indicated that all three were pleased with the athlete's performance. The athlete said that she was comfortable with the off-season intervention, which she was currently using, and she wanted to continue employing the same intervention. The athlete and SPC agreed that the athlete's performance would be evaluated at the end of preseason. When preseason had ended, the evaluation by the athlete, coach, and SPC of the athlete's game performance was positive, so no further intervention was given at this time. During the last nine regular-season games (Games 21-29) the athlete was assessed using the CSAI-2 (Martens et al., 1990) to evaluate the athlete's pregame anxiety. Following the game a performance evaluation form was completed by the athlete (Orlick, 1986). The athlete and the SPC collaboratively constructed an intervention that included a goal attainment scale (Thompson & Rudolph, 1988) to monitor the athlete's performance on a weekly basis. The athlete and SPC met weekly for 4 weeks to evaluate the athlete's progress toward her goals. Regular and postseason performance was evaluated by the athlete, coach, and SPC. Assessment Off-Season The coach provided some background about the athlete's performance during the previous season as well as the coach's own expectations for the athlete this coming season. Stressors. The first part of the assessment of the athlete's characteristics included a 40-minute interview to discuss the stress factors that the athlete experienced before, during, and after her performances. A series of questions were posed to the athlete. Following her reply to the questions, the athlete was shown the CASS (Kroll, 1979) and asked to circle any items which had affected her performance in a positive or negative fashion. She was asked to circle all items which affected her performance even if she had already reported them in the interview. She was told that Kroll's CASS had been identified by other elite athletes as factors that affected their performance. This reassured her and put her at ease while doing this task. The results of the interview indicated that the athlete felt stress because she feared failing and she felt inadequate. She said that her performance deteriorated when she became too anxious. Major reasons for these feelings were her

5 Mental Training Program 17': fears that she did not want to disappoint the coach and/or significant others, and she became personally dissatisfied and embarrassed when she did not play to her potential. Both the coach and athlete separately felt the athlete had potential to be an outstanding university player. Yet there was inconsistency in the athlete's performance and lack of communication between the athlete and coach. These were stressors for the athlete because she felt the coach had lost faith in her and no longer thought she had the elite basketball ability she had demonstrated at the beginning of the season. The athlete worried that the coach thought she was not mentally tough on the court. She internalized the coach's criticism and avoidance as a personal slight and not in a basketball context. She felt the coach was disappointed in her as a person and not just in her poor basketball performance. The athlete revealed she felt stress when the coach gave her performance goals for each game because she (a) felt that she had to get the number of points and rebounds assigned to her as a goal or she would be seen as a failure by letting the team down, and (b) focused on the outcome of her performance, not the process. In addition, if she reached her goals in the immediate game she fretted over whether she would reach them the next game. Another stressor included phenomena which were out of her control such as boisterous spectators, poor turnout, the playing surface, and the possibility of injury. She also indicated that her low foul-shooting percentage concerned her. Attentional Focus. In the second meeting the athlete was given the TAIS (Nideffer, 1981) to complete. The following day her scores on the test were shared with and interpreted for her. The TAIS revealed that the athlete had a higher score on overloaded by external stimuli (OET; 21) than broad external attentional focus (BET; 13). Individuals who have a higher OET score than BET score tend to shy away from busy situations because of the difficulty in dealing with large amounts of information. These athletes usually like one-on-one situations. The athlete verified this to be true for herself. For example, when asked whether she liked five-on-five situations or transition better, the athlete responded that she loved transition offense. She said that she felt overloaded in five-onfive quarter court situations. The athlete also had a higher score on the factor indicating she was overloaded by internal stimuli (OIT; 16) than the factor indicating broad internal attentional focus (BIT; 18). When the OIT score is higher than the BIT score, it indicates that the, athlete tends to be overloaded by thoughts to the point of interfering with his or her ability to function or attend to what is going on around him or her; the athlete is "in his or her head." The SPC explained that this may be a reason for this athlete's poor foul shooting, that she could be overloaded with her own thoughts/emotions and not focused on the task at hand. The athlete agreed that she was distracted when she went to the foul line and was thinking-about missing the shot or about the crowd. According to Nideffer (1981), when the athlete becomes too anxious, this overloading of internal (OIT) and external (OET) stimuli will dominate her attentional focus. This athlete became overloaded with external andlor internal stimuli when she was too anxious and made mistakes when performing. She became confused with too many choices in the environment. The mental demands of basketball necessitate using either a broad focus or a narrow focus, depending on the situation. Most of the skills in basketball

6 178 Savoy are open skills, requiring the athlete to read and react to changes in the environment and situations. When shooting, the athlete must have a narrow focus of attention, but when playing help-defense, a broad focus is required. In addition, the athlete must be adept at switching from broad to narrow, and vice versa. Basketball requires a moderate level of arousal for good performance; high arousal levels create muscle tension that negatively affects the fine motor movements required for accuracy in the game (Gill, 1986; Martens, 1987). At the end of the second session, the athlete was asked if there were any other concerns she wanted to address in her psychological training program. She said that she wanted to (a) become a 70% foul shooter, (b) become a more consistent practice player, (c) learn how to get "psyched up" for practices, (d) have improved communication with the coach, (e) handle distractions during games, and (f) play to her potential. Intervention Based on the information provided by the assessment and the specific mental demands for performing the varied offensive and defensive open and closed tasks, the SPC designed a mental training program for this athlete. During the preseason the SPC and the athlete chose two areas where the athlete should begin her psychological training: (a) dealing with distractions, and (b) getting psyched up for practices. Attentional Focus. The athlete was informed of Nideffer's (1981) recommendations for athletes who were overloaded by external stimuli, as she was. Nideffer suggested that these athletes should learn a relaxation technique. Therefore, while relaxed, the athlete was told to close her eyes and practice broadening her focus. Nideffer also stated that these athletes should use a mental checklist or outline to help them organize their game plans. Often these athletes need outside direction to help them learn to relax or organize their thoughts. He also suggested that athletes with a relatively high obsession score (OBS; 17) should design a structured environment and priority list to help them deal with distractions. Thus, a two-part program to be used during the off-season was created for this athlete including (a) an OET control program, and (b) an OIT control program. OET Control Program. The athlete decided that she could relax by leaning back in a comfortable chair or bed with her eyes closed. She said it was easy for her to relax in a quiet environment. She was given a worksheet of offensive images (Figure 1) to use while she was in this relaxed state. Then, during relaxation she used imagery to practice broadening her focus by visualizing herself playing a basketball game in a distracting environment (Figure 1). For example, she imaged herself playing in a gym with boisterous spectators. If she became anxious during this imagery, she focused on her breathing to release tension in her muscles and gave a passive response to this image. Once she lowered her level of arousal she thought about the boisterous spectators and then shooting the basketball and scoring with this distracting noise in the background. She imaged herself passing, shooting, dribbling, and penetrating to the basket with noise all around her. She imaged scenes like this until she believed she could play well in this environment. She imaged either the same scene with a different outcome several times or the same scene with the same outcome. The

7 Mental Training Program 179 Image yourself in a gym that you do not like, and perform the following basketball skills: 1. Steal the basketball from your check and dribble to the other end to score. 2. Steal the ball from your check, take a dribble or two, and pass it ahead to your teammate on your left who scores. 3. Use #2 but add a defender, so you must make an accurate pass to yourteammate. 4. Use #3 but make the pass to the teammate on your right, because the one on the left is not open. 5. Use #4 but add two defenders, and you decide whether you pass or take it yourself. 6. Use #2 but have a 4-on-2 advantage, and you decide what will occur. 7. Use #6 but have a 4-on-3 advantage. 8. Image your teammate stealing the ball; you run ahead to receive a pass, shoot, and score. 9. Use #8 but there is a 3-on-1 situation once you have the basketball; you decide what will happen. 10. Gradually add players to your imagery until you are playing in a 5-on-5 situation. Figure 1 - Worksheet of offensive images. outcome was always positive, such as a score by the athlete or her teammate or a completed pass to her teammate. OZT Control Program. Nideffer (198 1) also suggested a priority list for individuals who tend to be higher on the OIT scale than BIT scale. Because the athlete focused on the outcome, she did not attend to the immediate task (i.e., the process). This athlete was assisted by a mental checklist for five-on-five situations in a quarter court game, because she agreed that this situation caused her to become overloaded (Figure 2). While she was in her daily relaxed state for 15 minutes, she imaged her mental checklist. The athlete was told that she must practice the checklist until it became automatic, because an athlete should not think about each step as the game is going on around him or her. After the athlete read the prescription, she believed these were concrete, helpful suggestions. She immediately agreed to try all suggestions which dealt with distractions to see if her imagery would decrease her anxiety about distractions. She also said that she would use the suggestions for getting psyched up for practices when they began the fall physical training program. The athlete responded positively to the prospect that this prescription would help improve her basketball performance. Following this session, and until team practices began, the SPC had little contact with the player regarding her program. However, the athlete used the worksheet for examples of offensive images (Figure 1) and the mental checklist for five-on-five (Figure 2). The areas which the OIT control program concentrated on were (a) internal distractions, (b) fear of disappointing the coach, (c) anxiety over reaching her game goal set by the coach, (d) fear of failing, and (e) feeling inadequate. As the second part of the off-season program, the athlete was also told to verbalize

8 180 Savoy In a 5-on-5 offensive situation when you do not have the basketball: 1. Decide your options before you get the ball. 2. Make a cut to get open to receive the ball. 3. If the ball is passed to you, focus on catching it. 4. If the ball is passed to a teammate who shoots, get around your defender, and go to the boards to rebound. 5. If your teammate does not shoot, check the situation again and get open. In a 5-on-5 offensive situation when you have the basketball: 1. Bend your knees, square to the hoop, and look to shoot. 2. If closely guarded, look 1-on-I. 3. Look to pass toward the basket. 4. Pass to the perimeter. Figure 2 - Mental checklist for 5-on-5 situations. positive self-statements about her ability while she was relaxing. She was instructed to recall her past successes and to tell herself that she could perform well on this court. She told herself that she was a good player and she could relax and play to her potential. This helped her confidence in dealing with distractions. In fact, she found that she had to do this before she was able to actually see herself performing in a situation that was stressful to her. The athlete was told that if she struggled with use in the technique described here, she should image herself playing basketball in a nonstressful situation where she easily completed her passes to teammates or scored after she did a penetrating dribble to the hoop. Once she felt secure in imaging herself performing in a nonstressful environment, she imaged herself penetrating and scoring in a gym full of boisterous spectators. This gave the athlete some flexibility in her program. Imagery and relaxation conducted in this manner took 15 to 20 minutes to complete. However, the SPC told the athlete that it was imperative that she learn to relax in 3 or 4 breaths under game-like conditions. This enabled the athlete to quickly refocus as the game was in progress. The athlete was taught this technique during preseason practices and scrimmages. Assessment Preseason During October, preseason basketball practices began. The SPC had three team meetings to explain the team sport psychology training program which the team would be using throughout the year. This athlete had an advantage because she had individual attention as well as the team sport psychology training program. Intervention Since the athlete also requested ideas to help her psych up for practices, it was suggested that the athlete use the prepractice individual warm-up time to do this.

9 Mental Training Program 181 The SPC told the athlete that, when she felt lethargic before practice, she should think of positive images from past performances which excited her. She was told that she needed to feel her skin prickle or her heartbeat accelerate when she was imaging. When she recognized some of these signs, she would know that she was ready to have a good practice. She verbalized this to herself as she felt her arousal level increase (Figure 3). The SPC also suggested that the athlete use positive self-talk and imagery (Rushall, 1989) on the way to practice each day (Figure 3). Even when she did not feel like practicing, she talked herself into it by pointing out the positive reasons why she should look forward to this practice. She was encouraged by the SPC to set a practice goal for these days to help her get ready for the practice. During the team preseason practice she energized herself by positive communication in a team setting (Figure 3). Williams and Long (1983) describe reciprocal reinforcement as a principle in which others value you to the extent that your behavior reinforces them. People reciprocate according to what they perceive themselves as receiving. If an athlete were positively reinforcing tearnmate(s), the probability would be greater for reciprocal reinforcement. When this reciprocal reinforcement happened, the athlete was energized because she was giving and receiving positive reinforcement. Often, the athlete performed the ritual of slapping another teammate's hands five times before practice began to help her become energized. If she were talking and encouraging her teammates during practice, then she was likely not thinking about practice being too long or too boring, because her focus was on her teammate(s) and the task which the team was doing at that moment. The athlete also stated that she liked to be reinforced for good play, and this helped her to receive praise. When the athlete felt energized because she was being praised, she continued to perform well in order to receive more praise. While walking to the gym for practice: 1. Wear a walkman playing energizing music. 2. Use positive self-talk, saying to yourself statements such as "I'm really looking forward to practice today. I need to practice today. I'm going to have a great practice today. I'm going to feel good today when I make good passes to my teammates. I'm going to focus on my penetrating moves today." 3. Take three deep breaths and image scenes from Figure 2 (if you are really lethargic use the more exhilarating images). 4. Tell yourself how much you love the game and how important it is to you. While doing your individual warm-up: 1. Jog lightly, relaxing your arms and legs, focus on your breathing, let the tension go. 2. Once jogging in a relaxed state, visualize some energing scenes (Figure 2). 3. Stretch, exhale, feel the tension leave each muscle as you stretch it and image energizing scenes. Figure 3 - Prepractice "psych up" routines.

10 182 Savoy Imagery and relaxation had already been discussed with the athlete during the off-season. However, it was imperative that she learn to relax in 3 or 4 breaths under game-like conditions. This was accomplished at every whistle, during a time-out, during a foul shot, when the referee was reporting a foul to the score table, during half-time, before the team warm-up, and during the team warmup. It took only 15 seconds to relax and image a positive scene of herself shooting and scoring once she became proficient with relaxation and imagery. This was a goal for the athlete throughout the season. It took practice by the athlete and was a slow process. The SPC told her to ask for a substitution to refocus when she had a problem with distractions and could not refocus on the court. Assessment Regular Season In early December the player's game performance began to deteriorate, and the coach was not pleased with her lack of productivity during games. The team had lost two games, and the coach was visibly upset with the team's performance. Simultaneously, the SPC was not available to the team for 1 month, so there was no communication with the coach or this player. After the SPC reentered the team setting in early January, the coach informed the SPC that the player had not played well during games in the past month, but that her practices were 80% acceptable. On the first day that the SPC attended practice the athlete had a good practice. She played very hard in the next game according to the coach. For the next 3 weeks the athlete worked hard in practices and games. However, the coach was still not pleased with the player's game performance and began to pressure her to play up to her potential. The coach felt the player did not perform well in the important pressure games. The athlete reported to the SPC that she was losing confidence in herself and felt the coach had also lost confidence in her during this time period. The SPC continued to remind the athlete to use imagery and relaxation to help her through the regular season practices and games. In addition, an ongoing collaborative assessment and intervention program was initiated in late January. The SPC administered the CSAI-2 (Martens et al., 1990) to the athlete 1 hour before the game to assess her pregame anxiety. Following the game a performance evaluation form was completed by the athlete (Orlick, 1986). This procedure before and after each game continued until the last regular season game was played. Anxiety Factors. After the CSAI-2 was administered for three games in late January, the athlete met with the SPC for 2 hours to discuss her CSAI-2 results, the coach's comments, and her own concerns about her game performance. The CSAI-2 scores indicated that the athlete had cognitive anxiety scores of 14, 13, and 17, which placed her in the 27, 22, and 44 percentile, respectively (Martens et al., 1990). Her somatic anxiety scores of 19 for the three games placed her in the 72 percentile. Self-Confidence. The athlete had precompetition self-confidence scores of 24, 23, and 21 on the CSAI-2. When these scores were compared to the

11 Mental Training Program 183 percentile norms for self-confidence in female college athletes (Martens et al., 1990) they were in the 46,40, and 3 1 percentile, respectively. Her self-confidence scores were the lowest or second-lowest on the team for these three games before which the CSAI-2 was administered, so she was given a positive self-talk tape (Kellner, 1987) to listen to during the next week. She was told that she should listen to sides one and two on alternate days. Side one should be listened to before going to sleep, and side two should be heard before practice or the game. She agreed that she should raise her self-confidence score and she thought that she should image positive situations and outcomes prior to the game. In addition, the athlete identified that the coach had lost confidence in her and had changed her position on the court to make her a tougher player. The coach also told the athlete that it appeared that the athlete did not care about the basketball program because she acted so cool and played without emotion on the court. When the SPC asked the athlete what she had in her control, she said that she (a) had her play under her control, (b) could do something about her play, and (c) wanted to do something about her play. Communication with the coach seemed to be a problem for this player, thus the SPC and the athlete agreed that she should try to communicate with the coach on a one-on-one basis during the next week. She would try to ask the coach questions about concerns she had as the practice was going on, and indicate when she wanted to talk to the coach about the concerns she had with her play. The SPC suggested that the athlete could prove to the coach that she was serious by performing with the agressive style the coach expected from her. If she would demonstrate this type of performance over and over in practice, the coach would be inclined to give her a chance in games. It took some hard work over the next 3 weeks, but the player did show the coach that she could play in the big games, and the coach rewarded her for this with playing time. In early February the SPC showed the athlete her points, rebounds, steals, fouls, and turnovers per minute played, field goal percentage, and foul shooting percentage (Figures 4-6). The athlete was also shown her graph (Figure 7) of her CSAI-2 scores. Her cognitive anxiety scores on the CSAI-2 were 13, 15, and 1 l which is in the 22, 32, and 10 percentile, respectively, for female college athletes (Martens et al., 1990). Her somatic anxiety scores were lowered from 19 to 14, 13, and 15 which is in the 1, 1, and 3 percentile, respectively, for female college athletes (Martens et al., 1990). This was an improvement in her somatic anxiety scores from the 72 percentile in late January. The athlete improved her self-confidence scores on the CSAI-2 to 28, 29, and 27 (70, 74, and 64 percentile). The athlete believed that listening to the Kellner (1987) audiotape helped her to reduce the anxiety that she felt before games and that her perormance per minute improved when she raised her self-confidence. The player said the audiotape helped her to relax and be more confident about her ability. During the week the coach talked to her about her role on the team and the athlete decided that she would play the role which the coach had outlined to her. The athlete said that she was committed to do whatever was best for the team. The athlete agreed that she needed to set some goals for the next week. Five goals were set (Figure 8) and she was given a goal attainment scale (Thompson & Rudolph, 1988) that she could complete at the end of the week. The athlete rated herself weekly from -2 (most unfavorable outcome) to +2 (most favorable

12 184 Savoy Points Rebounds Steals Blocks Figure 4 - Points, rebounds, and steals per minute played by block. - u Turnovers Fouls Blocks Figure 5 - Fouls and turnovers per minute played by block. outcome) on the goals. The five goals she set related to (a) communication with the coach, (b) mental toughness, (c) physical toughness, (d) going up the line on defense, and (e) offensive rebounding. She said that she would focus on these skills and image: (a) rebounding, (b) playing more aggressive defense, and (c) communicating with the coach. In mid-february the athlete and SPC evaluated the athlete's progress toward her five goals (Figure 8) and she showed an improvement on all five with a

13 * 100 4J Mental Training Program 185 Foul shot % Y rn a E 0 Blocks Figure 6 - Field goal and foul shot percentage by - block. 0 fi Cognitive 0 C 0 Somatic a 40-4 Self-confidence YI ' Figure 7 - CSAI-2 scores across games. Games major improvement in (a) her self-confidence, (b) being mentally tough, and (c) offensive rebounding. She said the coach still showed a lack of confidence in her and did not reward her enough when she did well. She described a practice situation in which she hit all four of her foul shots when the coach put her on the foul line while practicing pressure foul shots. She said the coach did not acknowledge that she made the foul shots. In addition she made a three-point

14 BASELINE LEVEL X FOLLOW UP LEVEL ' NAME DATE L m Q\ SCALE SCALE 1 SCALE 2 SCALE 3 SCALE 4 SCALE 5 ATTAINMENT self-confidence communication mentally tough offensive rebounding physically tougher LEVEL with coach fighting over screens (A) MOST 0 out of 10 times never getting over UNFAVORABLE 0 out of 7 days 0 out of 7 days 0 out of 7 days offensive rebounding screens OUTCOME (-2) x x x x x (B) LESS THAN 2 out of 7 days 2 out of 7 days 2 out of 7 days 3outoflOtimes 3outof10 EXPECTEDOUTCOME successful THOUGHT LIKELY (-1) x (C) EXPECTED LEVEL 4 out of 7 days 4 out of 7 days 4 out of 7 days 6 out of 10 times 6 out of 10 OFSUCCESS (0) successful *1 '1 (D) MORE THAN EXPECTEDLEML,OF SUCCESS (+I) 6 out of 7 days *I 6 out of 7 days '2 6 out of 7 days '1 8outoflOtimes *1 *2 8outof10 successful 02 (E) BEST ANTICIPATED everyday everyday everyday 10 out of 10 times 10 out of 10 SUCCESS (+2) successful '2 '2 Figure 8 - Goal Attainment Scale.

15 Mental Training Program 187 shot to tie the game at the buzzer during the scrimmage, and the coach did not even say "good shot" to her. This bothered and hurt the player. She said her teammates and the assistant coaches praised her, but not the head coach. The SPC pointed out to the player that the coach had high expectations for the player but may be frustrated because the coach could not help the player to become better. In fact, the coach could have been frustrated with herself because the player had potential to be a good basketball player, but the coach felt that she had not been able to help the player achieve that potential. There appeared to be a large communication gap between the coach and player. Although attempts from both sides were made, they were short-term. A long-term solution was suggested to the coach that the athlete and coach get to know each other and spend some time around each other in a summer employment opportunity away from basketball. In the meantime the SPC continued to encourage communication between the coach and player with both parties. The SPC asked the coach to show confidence in the player by telling the player what was expected and telling the player that she thought the player could do what was expected (Rosenthal & Jacobson, cited in Glasser, 1969). For example it was suggested she say, "Demand the ball late in the game and score for us, you are the best person to do this on your squad!" Evaluation After an outstanding preseason start, the athlete continued to perform acceptably at the offensive end of the court. In Game I and Game 2 of the regular season the athlete scored 10 and 11 points and secured 5 and 3 rebounds, respectively. Although the athlete felt she was not playing as well as she had during preseason she was at an acceptable level of performance for this athlete. The team lost the second regular season game and the coach was angry with the outcome. After this expression of anger by the coach to the team, the athlete's performance began to deteriorate both on the statistical chart and in the coach's opinion. The coach observed that the athlete was too concerned with scoring and was not playing defense at her ability level. The coach still allowed her to play approximately 20+ minutes per game. However, there were some games in which the athlete played 17 and 14 minutes while the SPC was not with the team. During this time period the athlete admitted that she (a) lost her confidence, and (b) focused on the amount of playing time and not on the quality of her performance. Until the last month of season play the athlete performed inconsistently on offense and defense as seen in Blocks 2-7 of Figures 4-6. As a result, her playing time was also inconsistent. Once she began weekly meetings with the SPC in Block 8, the athlete began to focus on process and not on outcome, and her performance started to improve on rebounds per minute played, points per minute, field goal percentage, and free throw percentage (Figures 4 and 6). The athlete began to focus on her five goals of (a) rebounding, (b) aggressive defense, (c) communicating with the coach, (d) being mentally tough, and (e) strengthening her self-confidence. Accordingly, the athlete was rewarded by the coach with more playing time because she was (a) being more aggressive on defense, and (b) rebounding more boards. Because she was playing more, she believed the coach had confidence in her ability, so she relaxed and performed at an acceptable level.

16 188 Savoy After the regular season play ended, the SPC met with the athlete. The study was finished and the athlete was in a confident frame of mind and ranked herself +2 for self-confidence this week (best ranking possible), +I on selfinitiated communication with the coach, +2 for mentally tough, +1 for offensive rebounding and +1 for physically tough on screens (Figure 8). She said she found the goal attainment scale helpful for charting her progress over the season and for giving her some realistic goals which she felt she could reach. Her CSAI-2 scores (Figure 7) were interpreted to her for Games 28 and 29 and it was pointed out that she had a lower self-confidence score (SC) before the last season game (SC = 29) than the game before (SC = 33). These selfconfidence scores were in the 74 and 90 percentile (Martens et al., 1990), respectively, showing an improvement in self-confidence versus the end of January. The athlete explained that she felt that her teammates made her nervous and that she had not listened to the tape (Kellner, 1987) for 3 days. She said she would listen to the tape the night before each game in the postseason. The athlete also indicated that the logbook was a good idea for her because it helped her to vent her feelings from the day, to look at her day, and to look back over her log to reread the good days and try to transfer it to the present. Postseason Evaluation At the conference championships the player had her best performance against three top teams. The coach was extremely pleased with the athlete because she was playing well for the first time against this level of competition. Previously, in the close games this player played passively and did not look for the ball in the pressure situations. During all three games the player was looking for the ball and working hard at both ends of the court to help her team win. The coach congratulated the athlete on her superior performance and she received much praise for her efforts during the tournament from teammates and the media. Following the conference championships the athlete continued to perform to the coach's expectations and played the role which the coach had outlined. In her last two games of postseason the athlete secured a total of 23 rebounds to lead the team, but only scored a total of 14 points (Figure 4). She did not allow the fact that she was not scoring keep her from helping the team by rebounding and playing defense. After the season had finished, the coach commented that the athlete developed a fighting spirit, played with emotion, and was not afraid to show positive emotion on the court. The athlete played with confidence and realized that she could contribute to the team not only by scoring but through defense and rebounding. The coach also stated that the athlete "gave of herself" to the program by openly communicating with the coach and playing her role on the team. Summary This psychological skills training program employed an assessment, intervention, and evaluation of a NCAA Division I female basketball player. The athlete and coach indicated that much of the improvement in performance was due to an increase in the athlete's self-confidence. The athlete said that the intervention employed in this collaborative mental training program helped her to improve

17 Mental Training Program 189 her self-confidence (Figure 7). Game statistics (Figures 4-6) also showed positive results after the intervention had been employed. This case study supported the findings that the CSAI-2 may be related to performance (Bird & Horn, 1990; Buckles, 1984; Gould et al., 1987) as shown by the game statistics. The athlete indicated that the intervention helped her improve her self-confidence and game performance which supported the findings of Silva (1982) and Kendall et al. (1990). This athlete also indicated that the use of the goal attainment scale (Figure 8) enhanced counseling and performance outcome (Thompson & Rudolph, 1988). One limitation of this study is that there were no baseline measures taken for state anxiety and game performance before the intervention began. However, players and coaches do not want to wait until preseason for an intervention when they ask a SPC for assistance, so baseline measures are not always possible. In addition this study was very time consuming and the cost may be prohibitive for college programs to hire a professional in the role of SPC unless there is a full-time SPC on staff. This case study was an applied sport psychology intervention that used actual pregame anxiety measures and game performance. It also monitored an individualized intervention program across a season so that progressions could be seen in creating a psychological skills training program for an athlete. The purpose of any theoretical idea is applying it in a given situation, and this case study applied imagery, centering, positive self-talk, energizing, and goal-setting theories. Future directions in sport psychology might lean toward bridging the gap between theory and application. Athletes and coaches need the information available in the area of sport psychology, so more studies that teach them how to use the psychological techniques will be useful to the end consumer. This case study may be of use to the practitioner with its specific information in setting up a yearly psychological skills training program for an athlete. References Bird, A.M., & Horn, M. (1990). Cognitive anxiety and mental errors in sport. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 12, Botterill, C. (1987). Psychological skills in sport and life. Winnipeg, Canada: Lifeskills. Buckles, T ). The gects of visuo-motor behavior rehearsal on competitive performance tasks, anxiety, and attentional style. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Tennessee. Feltz, D., & Landers, D. (1983). The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport Psychology, 5, Gill, D. (1986). Psychological dynamics of sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Glasser, W. (1969). Schools without failure. New York: Harper & Row. Gould, D., Petlichkoff, L., Simons, J., & Vevera, M. (1987). Relationship between Competitive State Anxiety Inventory2 subscale scores and pistol shooting performance. Journal of Sport Psychology, 9, Hall, C., & Rogers, W. (1989). Enhancing coach effectiveness in figure skating through a mental skills training program. The Sport Psychologist, 3, Hall, E., & Erffmeyer, E. (1983). The effect of visuo-motor behavior rehearsal with videotaped modeling on free throw accuracy of intercollegiate female basketball players. Journal of Sport Psychology, 5,

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