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

Jeffrey J. Martin
Travel challenges
Traveling to competition sites for extended
periods of time often means not being able
to give or receive emotional support which
can cause stress. Stress can clearly disrupt
concentration and impact performance
(Campbell & Jones, 2002a, 2002b). Furthermore,
travel-related relationship issues may
be viewed negatively (i.e., threatening vs.
challenging) and quite severely compared
to other sources of stress (Campbell &
Jones, 2002a, 2002b). Travelling across time
zones, trying to understand foreign languages,
and enduring different climates (e.g
excessive heat and humidity) all take a toll
on individual’s emotional and physical
resources (Banks, 1992). Finally, at major
competitions such as the Paralympics, athletes
often cannot practice at the competition
site. In such cases, obtaining video
tapes or even one-dimensional pictures of
the competition site can faciliate imagery of
the course or facility.
Effective training and competing
Athletes need intelligent coaching to achieve
sport success. Research examining coaching
practices in disability sport is not encouraging.
Although coaches (N = 239) of athletes
from the six national disability sport organisations
in the USA indicated that they
coached athletes on a regular basis (i.e., at
least once a week), most other research is
less supportive (DePauw & Gavron, 1995).
For instance, only 58 per cent of 319 elite
adult athletes stated that they had coaches
who directed their training sessions (Ferrara
& Buckley, 1996).
One-third of an international group of
wheelchair racers, throwers and swimmers
reported that they did not have a coach
(Liow & Hopkins, 1996). Within this group
swimmers were coached regularly, whereas
the throwers and wheelchair racers received
little coaching (Liow & Hopkins, 1996). In
1994, few wheelchair racers were reported to
have coaches in the United Kingdom
(Williams & Taylor, 1994) and in the USA
most coaches are volunteers without a sport
science background (Hedrick & Morse,
1995a). Athletes may train inappropriately
regardless of whether they are coached or
self-coached. Liow and Hopkins (1996)
reported that many elite athletes with disabilities
trained in ways that were not sport
specific and they tapered poorly. Research by
Watanabe et al. (1992) found that some athletes
overtrained on recovery days, and
Hedrick, Morse, and Figoni (1988) indicated
athletes trained inconsistently, suggesting
that athletes would benefit from improved
coaching. Athletes have also reported a lack
of availability of training material (Williams
& Taylor, 1994) and may quit sport because
of a lack of training information (Williams &
Taylor, 1994).
Sport psychologists should understand
their athletes’ training and can help athletes
obtain quality coaching and educational
materials. Glucose drinks, for instance, can
improve wheelchair performance (Spendiff
& Campbell, 2003). Textbooks discussing
disability specific coaching principles and
techniques exist (e.g DePauw & Gavron,
1995; Jones, 1994; Owen, 1982; Steadward,
Wheeler & Watkinson, 2003; Winnick, 2000)
and Sports ’N Spokes, a monthly magazine,
publishes sport science information about
wheelchair sports (see www.pvamagazines.
com/sns).
Leaving sport
Elite athletes (i.e. Paralympians) often have
very brief careers (e.g two years) that start
shortly after (e.g two years) an acquired disability
(Wheeler et al., 1996). Because of
this timing, sport psychologists working
with Paralympians may also find themselves
assisting athletes with the transition out of
sport. Acceptance and adjustment to a
major trauma (e.g SCI) often takes up to
two years (Wheeler et al., 1996), and selfesteem
stabilisation for individuals with SCI
may take up to four years (Trieschmann,
1988). Thus, athletes may have to cope with
their disability and with leaving sport
(Wheeler et al., 1996). Additionally, athletes
may be dealing with a ‘secondary disability’
36 Sport & Exercise Psychology Review Vol 1 No 2