Intervening with athletes during the time leading up to competition: theory to practice II

This study presents part two of a series of investigations examining, temporal anxiety responses and the use of psychological skills during the time preceding competition within elite level sport. Based on information from Part 1 (Thomas, Hanton, & Maynard, 2007), imagery, rationalization and restructuring, goal-setting, and self-talk skills were applied differentially throughout a 3-phase temporal intervention using a single-subject multiple-baseline design with three elite field hockey players. Intervention effects were tested over a 10-match cycle in relation to associated anxiety symptoms throughout a 7-day cycle (6 days, 2 days, 1 day, 1 hour pre-competition), and competitive field hockey performance as measured through performance (i.e., notational) analysis. Results indicated the intervention successfully restructured players' interpretations of anxiety and confidence symptoms, increased the intensity and frequency of experienced self-confidence symptoms, decreased the frequency of experienced cognitive anxiety symptoms, and decreased the frequency of experienced somatic anxiety symptoms for two of the players. Performance improvements were also evident for the hockey players.