SELF CONCEPT Gobinder Gill

By the end of the session:  ALL students should describe the key components of perspective  MOST students should explain burnout and describe its symptoms  SOME students will develop the stages of career transition for athletes

3 Activity 1  Research indicates that there are a number of characteristics that identify a successful person.  In groups (two or three) identify these characteristics. 3

Twelve traits of successful people (McCoy, 1988)  They enjoy their work  They have high self-esteem and a positive attitude  They use negative experiences to discover their strengths  They are decisive, disciplined goal-setters  They have integrity and help others to succeed  They are persistent  They take risks  They have developed good communication and problem-solving skills  They surround themselves with competent, responsible and supportive people  They are healthy, have high energy and schedule time to renew  They believe in God, a higher power, and sometimes just plain luck  They have a sense of purpose and desire to contribute to society

Perspective  Botterill and Patrick (2003)  What is perspective?  “Capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance”  Allows athletes to put their sport within the proper context of their lives enabling them to survive and thrive in the demanding and often brutal environment of sport  Attending to and managing the aspects of personal life which then free us to properly attend to the demands of sport  Balanced living

Perspective  Identity  Support Sources  Values

Perspective: Identity

Seminar  Complete your current and ideal identity pies and discuss implications with a partner.  Where would you like to see change  What do you need to do to bring current and ideal in line?  Interview a partner about their support sources and values  What type of support do they offer?  How can these help bridge gap between current and ideal identity?  How do you ensure this support is maintained

Perspective: Support Sources Maslow (1968)

Team You You Coach NGB Sport Lecturer University Academic Parents Family & Friends Other E.G., Work, partner

Perspective enhances our psychological skills  Goal setting  Imagery  Self talk  Relaxation/arousal control  Motivation  Team cohesion  Emotion management

Burnout

 “I didn’t have an option to choose not to do that event after making the team...the timing was very poor and that contributed to overtraining and my performance was probably 80% at the Games due to fatigue and lack or recovery.” –Olympic athlete  “It’s a long, long grind. It’s either preseason practice, the season itself, postseason weight training, or recruiting. The demands to win can also very stressful. When we were successful, there was pressure and high expectation to stay successful. When we were losing, there was pressure to start winning real soon. This schedule and pressure can wear you down and make you just want to leave everything behind for a while.” –College football coach

Burnout definitions  Overtraining  Staleness  Burnout  “An exhaustive psychophysiological response exhibited as a result of frequent, sometimes extreme, and generally ineffective efforts to meet excessive training and competitive demands” (Weinberg & Gould, 2003, p. 470).

Characteristics of burnout  Exhaustion: both physical and emotional.  Depersonalization: seen as the individual’s being impersonal and unfeeling.  Feelings of low personal accomplishment: low self-esteem, failure, and depression.

Models of Burnout  Cognitive-affective stress model (Smith, 1986)  Situational demands  Cognitive appraisal  Physiological responses  Behavioural responses  Motivation and personality factors  Negative-training response model (Silva, 1990)  Based on responses to physiological stress  Unidimensional identity development and external control model (Coakley, 1992)  Focus on self concept or lack thereof

17 Activity 2  Using your knowledge of Burnout theory, write down (in groups) factors that identify burnout 15

Factors related to burnout (Gould et al., 1996) TriggersCognitive appraisal Physio & Psych responses Behavioural responses Personality and motivation High conflicting demands Perceived overload Decreased motivation Physical withdrawal High trait anxiety Lack of control Few meaningful accomplishmen ts FatigueEmotional withdrawal Low self esteem High expectations Lack of meaning and devaluing activity Decreased concentration Psychological withdrawal Competitivene ss Fear of failure Low social support Lack of enjoyment Weight gain or loss Decreased performance Narrow identity Excessive time demands Chronic stressSusceptibility to illness/injury Giving up during play High need to please others InjuriesStifled; trappedMuscle soreness Critical of teammates low perceived control

Treating and preventing burnout  Short term goals in competition and practice  Communication  Proper recovery  Self-regulation skills  Maintain perspective

20 Activity 3  In your groups do the following:  1) Identify any ex sports stars that have made a transition from their previous sport to another area/career 18

Career transition among athletes

Conceptual model of career transition (Taylor & Ogilvie, 1994)  Stage 1: Causes of career termination  Age  Deselection  Injury  Free choice  Stage 2: Factors related to adaptation  Developmental contributors  Self-identity  Perceptions of control  Social identity  Tertiary contributions

Conceptual model of career transition (Taylor & Ogilvie, 1994)  Stage 3: Available resources for athletes  Coping strategies  Social support  Preretirement planning  Stage 4: Quality of career transition  Stage 5: Intervention for career transition

24 Summary  Perspective of life and its situations must be considered both by performers and practitioners  Burnout is a cause that must be treated in its infancy to prevent total burnout  Career transitions is something that can be put into development programmes for performers

Further reading:  Balague, G. (1999). Understanding identity, value, and meaning when working with elite athletes. The Sport Psychologist, 13(1),  Brown, M., Cairns, K., & Botterill, C. (2001). The process of perspective: The art of living well in the world of elite sport. Journal of Excellence, 5,  Taylor, J., Ogilvie, B., & Lavallee, D. (2006). Career transition among athletes: Is there life after sports? In. J. Williams (ed.), Applied Sport Psychology: Personal growth to peak performance. McGraw-Hill, New York.  Weinberg, R.S., & Gould, D. (2003). Foundations of sport & exercise psychology (3 rd ed). Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.