The experimenters’ predictions were that “highly intense sources of acute stress would be significantly related to the athlete's respective coping style, depicted as approach and avoidance, and that these relationships would be a function of gender.” Also, that ineffective coping with sources of acute stress will be damaging to both the performance and satisfaction of the competitors. In addition, the researchers wanted “to ascertain the extent to which athletes’ coping style was consistent between categories of stressors.”
The outcome of this experiment showed that general coping styles are significantly related to general sources of acute stress. The hypothesis of this study provided results that are partially supported. The models showed that the athletes’ coping styles were related to their respective sources of acute stress category. The results of the three-factor analyses revealed valid relationships between coping styles and sources of acute stress among the athletes. The results from the experiment also indicate that “athletes who experienced intense coach-related acute stress was more likely to use an approach-behavior coping styles followed by the other coping styles.” The athlete's gender was a variable in determining coping styles in response to sources of acute stress. The models showed that athletes who experienced acute stress used their respective coping styles consistently. In addition, gender helps show the relationship between source of acute stress and successive use of coping styles. Another result is the high correlations between coping styles. This relationship confirms that, within the context of competitive sports, “coping is primarily a cognitive rather than a behavioral strategy.”
This study’s results applies to the real world by having advantages of identifying athletes’ coping style in reaction to categories is, sources of acute stress enhances self-regulation strategies, and decreases the amount of information in the coping process. Also, if a player can predict the coping style that player can adjust its behavior so there is a satisfactory outcome. In addition, if an opposing competitor can predict its opponents coping style, then the competitor can change its behavior to gain a favorable result.
I was a football player in high school so I can relate extremely easily to this experiment. After reading this article I was not shocked at the results. I wish I knew the information in this experiment, because I could better predict my own and my opponents coping style. This would facilitate me in being a more skillful competitor on the football field.
Mark A. Eys, Todd M. Loughead, and James Hardy. (May 2007). Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Athlete leadership dispersion and satisfaction in interactive sport teams. Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages 281-296.
The participants of this experiment were 218 varsity student athletes from Canadian universities. There were 103 males and 115 females. The mean age of the participants was 20.6 years. They represented various sports teams including soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, ice hockey, field hockey, rugby, and basketball. These participants were current members on their sport team for an average of 2.13 years. The purpose of this study was to see what two part, the first was to see what an athletes thought process is and the second was to see if more leaders on a team is beneficial to the team.
“At the beginning and end of their competitive seasons, athletes indicated who the task, social, and external leaders were on their respective teams and responded to four dimensions of the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire.” A meeting was arranged with the athletes, where the experiment was explained and consent was obtained. Over the duration of a competitive season there were two data recording periods; early and late season. Data collection was administered before or after a practice session at the teams’ practice facility. “Participants were ensured their participation was voluntary, confidential, and that they may have access to the general results upon conclusion of the study.”
“The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the perceived number of athlete leaders present on a sport team across three types of leadership functions and satisfaction at the beginning and end of a competitive season.” Also, to understand what it takes mentally to be a leader on the field. This was examined by three criteria the task the athletes were performing, how they interacted with the other players and how they showed their leadership on the field.
There was no specific hypothesis was offered in this journal. Three possibilities were suggested to the potential relationship between experiences of being an athlete leader and satisfaction. The outcome of the experiment was that the participants who perceived a balanced number of leaders across the three functions indicated greater satisfaction, this had effect on the number of leaders were higher or lower. In addition, the athletes who were grouped into clusters perceived that all three functions to be displayed to the same degree had an increased level of satisfaction with their team's overall performance.
“The relative number of leaders within sport groups is related to individual perceptions of satisfaction.” So the more leaders there are the greater sense of satisfaction. All sports teams need more leaders, whether it is the team captain or a teammate with exceptional skills. Both show great leadership qualities.
My reaction to this experiment was that it makes sense. The leaders are there to set an example and the more leaders there are, there is a better chance the one of the teammate will relate to them. On my football team I was the linemen captain, and we had a captain for every position. Now I see why my football coaches had so many leaders. I also found that having a lot of leaders on the team really helped me. If the coach was giving me a hard time or the players under me were not performing as I would like, I could talk to the other captains and here their views on how to motivate the team. It was a really great sounding board and helped me a lot. I thought this experiment only had one flaw and that was some sports do not really need that sense of team and leadership such as cycling in which case everyman is their own leader. I wonder what their leadership skills and ability would be.
Yannick Stephan, Miquel Torregrosa and Xavier Sanchez. (January 2007). Psychology of Sport and Exercise. The body matters: Psychophysical impact of retiring from elite sport. Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages 73-83.
Professional athletes feel on top of the world when the world is cheering them on, but what happens when they retire and the crowds are no longer around. This study took 69 retired elite athletes in France (46 males and 23 females). The athletes all participated in the Olympics. All were retired ten years or less. Their ages ranged from 26 to 46 years old. Some of these athletes found jobs promoting sports but most took jobs doing something completely different; one was even now an airline stewardess. Many studies done in the past looked at athlete’s view of self worth while they are on the field; however few looked to see what happened to them after they left.
A questionnaire was sent out to 100 former athletes in France. The packaged explained the experiment and also had a consent form. Response to the study was not mandatory. This experiment looked to explore the relationship between an athletes bodily changes and their global self esteem. Participants were asked to rate their feeling on a scale from 0 to 10. 10 being they were completely self confident and 0 being they had none. The hypothesis for this experiment is two part, first the athletes declining physical strength will negatively affect their self worth and second, due to their the declining health the difficulty of performing task they once loved will increase and therefore they will not feel they have as much to look forward to.
Both hypotheses were correct. The loss of the strength the athletes once had made them feel like they had less self worth. Also due to this loss of physical appearance they did not take the pride in themselves they once did. The participants often commented how things were once so simple (eg running a mile) are now a great feat to master. Overall athletes were discouraged by their current physical state and were also upset that they could no longer do the things they once loved. Often rating their self esteem level to be a 5 out of 10.
People do not often realize that very few of the once great athletes continue making money after they retire. Most retired athletes go on to lead fairly simple, quiet lives. For some athletes this to be a welcome change from the fast paced competition circuit but for most it becomes a very quiet and lonely time. These results can be applied to all retired athletes. Maybe the sports teams could have a few retirement counseling sessions to help the athletes mentally prepare for the life stage they are about to go through.
I feel this was a good study, however since it was voluntary response only people with strong opinions would respond. This creates a huge flaw because all the other athletes who did not respond maybe are out living a great life and have better things to do then sit and fill out a questionnaire. The ones who are unhappy with their current state have plenty of time to sit and reflect which would only make them have lower self esteem. My limited experience with this is when I badly injured my knee and had to sit out the season. I became extremely sad watching my teammates out on the field and not being able to be a part of that. I never felt so alone in my whole life. I can only imagine what it would be like to live a good part of your life in the spot light and have that taken away where no one remembers you.
