PhyschologicalGame

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PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS ON THE YOUTH NATIONAL TEAM AND THOSE INVOLVED IN THE 14S HIGH-PERFORMANCE CAMP

By Sally A. White, Ph.D.
Psychosocial Resource Advisory Team Leader

The ultimate quest for both sport scientists and coaches is to determine what physiological and psychological factors produce the winning formula or to try to establish a profile of the successful athlete. Using a profiling approach, psychological studies have been completed in the area of positive mental health and performance and identified significant profile differences between successful vs. non-successful athletes. Specifically, Morgan (1979, '80) and his colleagues (Morgan, Brown, Raglin, O'Conner and Ellickson, 1987) examined six facets of mood that were thought to be related to positive mental health and athletic success. Results indicated that the successful athlete scored above the norm on the mood state Vigor and well below the norm on the following mood states: Tension, Depression, Anger, Fatigue and Confusion. Later, using the mood state profile of the successful athlete (AKA "Ice-berg Profile"), Morgan was able to predict 10 of the 16 finalists for the 1974 U.S. heavyweight rowing team.

This type of athlete profiling is useful when trying to discover the range of psychological traits and states sport participants may have, as well as the types of psychological skills that athletes may use to improve performance. In the area of psychological skills training (PST), not much information exists as to whether successful athletes, when compared to less-successful athletes, utilize different PST programs. In a review by Greenspan and Feltz (1989) focusing on studies that had taught athletes how to use psychological skills, there was overwhelming support for PST's effectiveness and influence on performance. Nevertheless, no comparison between groups of athletes involved at different levels of development using a profiling design has been completed. The Greenspan and Feltz (1989) review did, however, determine that the four most frequently used PST techniques were: arousal regulation (progressive relaxation, meditation, etc.), cognitive restructuring (positive self-talk, thought-stopping-centering, etc.), a goal setting program and imagery training.

Consequently, the purpose of this study was to use a profiling approach to determine differences between volleyball players involved in two different levels of training and their utilization of the four PST techniques. It was predicted that the youth national team volleyball players would use the four PST techniques more in training than the 14's high-performance camp participants. The rationale behind this prediction was that volleyball players who have incorporated PST techniques into their training and who use these skills in competition are more likely to be successful and hence, achieve a higher performance standard (i.e., youth national team).

Also, this investigation employed two groups of volleyball players who were participants in a summer camp program to account for any confounding age-related variance. Specifically, the reason for doing this was to make sure that any differences in PST usage identified between the youth national team and the 14's high-performance camp participants was not related to the age of the athlete but to training effects. In other words, the two summer camp groups matched the ages of the two national groups and were given the same questionnaire to complete.

Methods

Participants and Procedures

The participants in this investigation were 148 players who were involved in different levels of volleyball. Specifically, Group 1 (N=35) were the youth national team and had a mean age of 16.34 years. Group 2 (N=58) were volleyball players involved in a 14's high-performance camp and had a mean age of 13.55 years. Group 3 (N=29) were volleyball players involved in a summer program at Illinois State Redbird Volleyball Camp and the mean age for the group was 13.75 years. Finally, Group 4 (N=26) was also volleyball players participating in the Illinois State Redbird Volleyball Camp and had a mean age of 16.26 years.

Each volleyball player was asked to answer questions about his/her PST techniques in the form of a questionnaire that took approximately 10 minutes to complete. Prior to the distribution of the questionnaire, the athletes were instructed that participation in the study was voluntary and all responses would be kept confidential. While completing the questionnaire, the volleyball players were instructed to ask for help if an item was unclear and to answer all questions as honestly as possible. No problems were reported by the individuals in completing the questionnaire.

Assessment

The inventory used for the study contained two sections. The first section was a demographic information sheet consisting of several questions used to describe the sample (i.e., age, gender, number of years participating in sport). The second part of the questionnaire was a 16-item inventory developed by White (1996)¹ to measure the frequency and use of four PST techniques. All responses to the 16 items were recorded ona four-point Likert-type scale, including: Never = 1; Occasionally = 2; Often = 3; and Always = 4. Examples of the items for the four PST techniques are as follows: 1) Systematic Goal Setting - "I am constantly adjusting my goals for volleyball based on my current performance" and "while training for volleyball I set short-term and long-term goals; 2) Arousal Regulation - "Being somewhat nervous before a game makes me play better" and "I can control my body's physical response to competition"; 3) Cognitive Restructuring - "I can make myself concentrate in the game by using positive words/statements" and "while playing volleyball cannot get negative thoughts out of my head"²; and 4) Imagery -"While I practice volleyball skills I try to imagine myself performing the skills in my head" and "before competition I imagine myself playing volleyball." After completion, a mean score and the internal reliability was calculated for each of the four subscales³.

Results

To determine if the youth national team players were significantly different than the 14's high-performance camp volleyball players, a multiple analysis of variance was employed (MANOVA). Overall, the statistical model was significant, Hotelling's T2=/.31, F18,350=1.98, p<.05 and a univariate difference was found on the PST imagery sub scale. Specifically, this study determined that the youth national team volleyball players used imagery more in their training (mean score = 3.11) than did the 14's high--performance camp participants (mean score = 2.72). There were no other differences between the four groups (including the summer camp ISU Redbird Volleyball players). Therefore, it may be suggested that the difference found on the PST imagery sub scale was due to training differences and was not related to the age of the volleyball player.

It is important to revisit the mean score of the two groups at this point. According to the Likert-type scale used in this study, a score in the three- to four-point range indicates "often" usage of that particular PST technique. However, a score in the two- to three-point range indicates an "occasional" usage of that specific PST technique. What the findings from this study suggest is that the youth national team volleyball players often use imagery in their training, whereas the 14's high-performance camp volleyball players occasionally use imagery in their training.

Obviously, it would be inappropriate to suggest that one causes the other, i.e., using imagery makes one successful, but there is clearly a link between the two. This link has been referred to many times in the sport psychology literature. In fact, a study completed at the United States Olympic Committee by Murphy, Jowdy and Durtschi (1990) suggested that 90 percent of all Olympic athletes use some form of imagery and that 97 percent of these athletes felt that it enhanced their performance. The results of this investigation further support the idea that athletes who are at the highest level of performance incorporate an imagery component to their training and performance regime.

Coaching Implications

The findings from this study indicated that an important variable that differentiated volleyball players at the youth national team level to those at the 14's high-performance camp level was the utilization of imagery in the athlete's training. It appeared that volleyball players who had been taught to use imagery and who often used imagery in practice and competition had a greater probability of being successful. From a coaching perspective, one way that coaches can help their players reach the highest level of volleyball performance is to teach the individual how to use imagery. To teach players how to imagine skills mentally does require a commitment from the coach as competence in imagery takes awhile for most athletes to master. But so does competence at anything physical or psychological! Listed below are five tips that may help in the teaching of imagery to volleyball players (for a complete guide to an imagery training program, see Chapter 15 in Weinberg, R.S. & Gould, D. {1995} Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics).

1. For imagery to be effective in the beginning stages it should be built into an athlete's daily routine.
2. Imagery preceded by relaxation is more effective than imagery alone.
3. Get the athlete to image the skill for as long as it takes to execute the skill physically. This is known as imaging in real-time.
4. Make sure that the athlete not only images the execution of the skill, but also experiences a positive outcome. When using imagery to improve serving, make sure the ball is served into the correct zone. Don't just focus the image on the serving action.
5. Realistic expectations and motivation to incorporate imagery into the training regime are needed for the benefits to be evidenced. If the coach is skeptical about mental training programs, then the benefits will not be experienced by the athlete.

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