Sport and Exercise Psychology Review - Sport Psychology Goes to ...

Sport psychology consulting with athletes
with disabilities
Jeffrey J. Martin
Athletes with disabilities, like all athletes, can benefit from working with sport psychology professionals. My
goal in the present article is to update and expand upon my (1999) paper describing a human development
model of psychological skills training. I present research findings and recommendations within the
above conceptual framework based on three related categories of psychological skills and methods, along with
unique considerations for working with athletes with disabilities. First, I discuss foundation skills such as
the development of self-determination and self-esteem. Then, I present information on traditional performance
skills and techniques like goal setting and anxiety management. Finally, I provide a review of facilitative
factors that impact on performance and quality of life such as coaching quality and injury
awareness.
‘You’ve got to keep your mental attitude positive all the way . . . even if you think a little negatively, your
just toasted. Once the water temperatures get colder, you have to have a really strong attitude to carry on.
Believe it or not, you have to ignore the cold water. And that’s very hard to do with a negative attitude –
with every stroke your probably thinking, Damn, this is cold water! You’re not supposed to do that! Your
supposed to be thinking, Don’t worry it’ll only be a few more hours.’
THE ABOVE quote is from Carlos Costa
(Bendall, 2004), a bilateral amputee
marathon swimmer, who became the
youngest person (20 years old) to swim
across Lake Ontario (Canada) in 1993. His
quote clearly illustrates the importance he
placed on the mental challenges of his performance.
More specifically he cites his
upbeat attitude, concentration ability, positive
self-talk, and thought control skills as all
critical mental factors that contributed to his
success. In the early 1990s sport psychologists
began to note the importance of psychological
skills training (PST) for athletes
with disabilities (Asken, 1991; Clark & Sachs,
1991). The sentiments of these authors
have recently begun to be substantiated by
athletes with disabilities who have acknowledged
their receptiveness to sport psychology
consultants (Page et al., 2001). The
writers of many of these early publications,
however, emphasised the use of mental skills
for performance enhancement purposes
(e.g Clark & Sachs, 1991; Hanrahan, 1998)
or very broadly defined psychological skills
and inferred mental skill development from
mood state scores (e.g Henschen et al.,
1992). Few sport psychologists, however,
have explicitly emphasised personal development
in combination with optimizing athletic
success (Martin, 1999a). The purpose of
the current article is to update and expand
Martin’s (1999a) article which addressed the
above shortcomings. The theoretical framework
for this article is Vealey’s (1988) human
development model of PST, which revolves
around foundation skills, psychological skills
and methods, and facilitative factors.
Foundation skills
Vealey’s (1988) model emphasises the
importance of developing self-determination,
self-awareness, and self-esteem because
the value of developing such positive characteristics
is important for personal growth and
performance (Vealey, 1988).
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is a critical component of
mental health (Rosenberg, 1979), and life
adjustment (Sonstroem, 1997). Sport is
more likely to influence physical self-esteem
32 Sport & Exercise Psychology Review Vol 1 No 2