The Sport Psychologist, 1987, 1, 82

Psyching for Sport: Menta l Training for Athletes Terry Orlick. Published 1986 by Leisure Press, Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61820. (216 pp., U.S. $11.95)

Coaches Training Manual to Psyching for Sport Terry Orlick. Published 1986 by Leisure Press, Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61820. (104 pp., U.S. $9.95) (Two-book set, U.S. $18.95)

Reviewed by John Salmela, Department of Physical Education, University of Montreal

One of Canada's most productive sport psychologists, Dr. Terry Orlick of the University of Ottawa has broken new ground by writing a set of applied sport psychology books with particular consideration given to psychological skills train- ing for both coach and athlete. Based upon his successful work with Olympic and world champions in canoeing, Alpine skiing, and speed skating, Orlick presents a clear, step-by-step approach for developing mental skills for sport.

Psyching for Sport: Mental Training for Athletes follows a logical pro- gression through the various mental skill development processes that have proven successful with elite performers. The book speaks to athletes. Beginning with its opening section, "Targets and Goals," the book takes athletes through the concepts and operations needed in mental plans, precompetition plans, competi- tion focus plans, and competition refocusing plans. The refocusing idea is most important and has not been reported in other "how to" sport psyching books. Given that prearranged mental sets may not work in a certain situation, then what? Orlick shows athletes how to surmount these crises.

Other sections of the book address the implementation and evaluation of all plans, the building of team harmony, the development of specific mental skills, and even how to deal with the media. This book is eminently tailored to the needs of the serious athletic competitor. But that's not all.

The second book of the set, Coaches Training Manual to Psyching for Sport, focuses on the coach as a direct intervening agent in implementing these mental skill development plans. Given the already close ties between coach and athlete, Orlick, in "An Invitation to Act," pleads with coaches to introduce mental skills during the training process. He provides all necessary forms and instruc- tions so the coach can, with confidence, help the athlete directly in implementing the plans. Sections in the coach's book mirror those sections for athletes in the companion text, which makes for a perfect marriage of practicality and understand- ing. In addition, it deals with the coach's own psychological coping skills, an area that most books ignore.

Such practical information from sport psychology, based upon sound theory as well as on experience from the competitive arenas, has long been sought by coaches and athletes. Once again Terry Orlick has provided straight solutions to tough problems in a highly readable and useful format.

The Sport Psychologist, 1987, 1, 83-87

Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance Jean M. Williams (Ed.). Published 1986 by Mayfield, 285 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94301. (396 pp.)

Reviewed by Maureen R. Weiss, Department of Physical Education and Human Movement Studies, University of Oregon

Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Pe@ormance conveys a wealth of information on coaching psychology, from tips on how to structure the learning environment to the psychology of injury rehabilitation. As stated in the preface, the book was written specifically "to introduce coaches and sport psychologists to psychological theories and techniques that can be used to en- hance the performance and personal growth of athletes from youth sport to elite levels" (p. xiii). Generally the book does a better job with techniques than the- ory, and the chapters vary in their application to youth, collegiate, or elite com- petitive levels. I liked the book and feel that it could be especially helpful for coaches already in the field, or as an undergraduate text in a course focused on coaching psychology.

The book consists of an introductory chapter, followed by three major sec- tions: Learning, Motivation, and Social Interaction in Sport; Mental Training for Peak Performance; and Psychological Considerations: Burnout, Injury, and Ter- mination from Athletics. As is true of any edited book, there is diversity in the informational content, writing style, and level of presentation among the chap- ters. In addition, some of the 22 chapters overlap in the material presented. Despite these drawbacks, however, I feel that this book makes a solid contribution to the sport psychology literature and that most readers will find the material in- teresting, informative, and practical for their coaching needs.

The first section is very strong as a whole. It was encouraging to see a nice blend of motor learning-related topics, social psychological aspects, and group dynamics woven together in an orderly and well-written manner. In "Motor Skill Learning for Effective Sport Performance," Joseph Oxendine covers phases of sport skill learning, feedback, practice schedules, whole and part practice, men- tal practice, and transfer. The use of clear and vivid examples throughout the chapter is definitely one of its major strengths. Another strength is that each sub- section contains a background to the topic, empirical evidence for effective and ineffective techniques, and finally, recommendations to the coach about apply- ing the principles. Perhaps one could criticize the section on phases of motor skill learning, which devotes much more space to characteristics of learners at the autonomous stage of learning than those at the cognitive or associative phases. It seems that most readers of this book will be primarily working with individu- als at these first two phases and would need information on what they, as coaches, can do to enhance their athletes' development to automated performance.

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Chapter 3, "Principles of Positive Reinforcement. and Performance Feed- ," is excellent. Authored by Ron Smith, it is well-written and thought-

provoking, and provides information in a succinct and easy-to-understand man- ner for students and coaches. The use of headings and subheadings is perfect, and the principles, although presented many times in other writings by Smith, are conveyed in a refreshingly new and enjoyable format

"Coach-Parent Relationships," Chapter 4, is also w being a timely topic for a coaching psychology book. Its author, Frank Smoll, does a fine job of clarifying the importance of the parent-athlete-coach relation- ship and the responsibilities parents must assume in overseeing their child's in- volvement. Smoll categorizes common profiles of youth sport parents and explains how a coach-parent meeting should be conducted. The only criticism of this chapter is that it is clearly targeted for children's sport, though most of its recommenda- tions could apply to junior and senior high school athletics as well.

One of the strongest contributions to the book, I thought, was Thelma Horn's "The Self-fulfilling Prophecy Theory: When Coaches' Expectations Be- come Reality. " Horn conveys this critical topic in a systematic and orderly fashion, with outstanding examples to illustrate key points. She especially does an e tive job of reviewing the relevant educational and sport literature, consolidatin the information to derive teachinglcoaching principles, and then finishes with havioral recommendations for coaches. From my view, this is the best paper this topic to date.

Bert Carron's chaptet, "The Sport Team as an Effective Group,'' is an outstanding account of the nature and structure.of groups and the dynamics of group cohesion. Carron summarizes the literature extremely well, creating two subheadings, Enhancing Group Structure and Enhancing Group Dynamics. T introduction to this chapter is perhaps the most gripping of the book, as he refe to the Charles Manson case and Tony Conigliaro's bout with impendin to illustrate how group influence becomes a powerful determinant of b and health.

Chapter 7, "Leadershi@ Effectiveness" by Mimi Murray, and Chapter "Styles of Decision-making in Coachibg" by Chella Chelladurai, both focus on effective leadership styles in sport and could easily have been made into one co- hesive chapter. Interestingly, Murray goes into depth on trait, situational, and behavioral theories of leadership but does not mention the only sport-specific leadership theory: the multidimensional model proposed by Chelladurai and Car- ron. Perhaps she assumed it would be covered in Chelladurai's chapter, but un- fortunately it wasn't. Nor do recommendations for increasing coaches' influence (not necessarily synonymous with effectiveness) emanate from the theories just discussed. Instead, this is done primarily with anecdotes. Because there appears to have been little collaboration on these two chapters, they may appear a bit disjointed and confusing to the reader.

Part Two contains the most chapters, 11, arid covers the entire g " psychological skills from relaxation and imagery to goal-setting. General1 appears to be no logical order to the chapters in this section. Furthemor not see any need for a chapter on psychological characteristics of peak marice, or on self-hypnosis, especially considering the book's length.

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using the book may be asked to jump around in their reading according to what format the instructor finds most logical.

Chapter 9 by Jean Williams, "Psychological Characteristics of Peak Per- formance," appears to be mostly an introduction to this section. In general, Wil- liams consolidates findings from both empirical and interview data sources on psychological differences between successful and "unsuccessful" athletes. Although this information is interesting, the chapter's focus on elite athletes makes it a bit hard to rationalize given that most sport participants are average. The chapter could have been couched more in terms of peak performance regardless of skill level to make it meaningful to most readers. For example, even the term "unsuccessful athletes" is relative; in this case "unsuccessful" refers to elite athletes who did not make the highest level of competition or who did not win after qualifying for a major tournament or competition.

"Goal Setting for Peak Performance" by Dan Gould provides an outstanding account of goal-setting research and theory, carefully including all the research and explanations of the goal-settinglperfonnance relationship. The goal-setting guidelines that follow are derived directly from the preceding discussion, are ex- plained clearly and concisely, and contain good examples. This chapter is also highlighted with sections on a goal-setting system for coaches as well as com- mon problems in setting goals. Besides these excellent qualities, I was particu- larly pleased that the presentation of the material was applicable to all age groups and skill levels.

I really liked the chapter on "Increasing Awareness for Sport Performance" by Ken Ravizza and felt that it would have been most appropriate as the lead chapter of this section. Its underlying theme is that athletes must come to terms with their need to control arousal by first becoming aware of their ideal arousal and performance state. Ravizza clarifies the importance of awareness in sport, awareness as it relates to skill development and how to increase one's awareness skills.

"Arousal-Performance Relationships," by Dan Landers and Steve Boutcher, is good in that the authors present new information and a number of different angles to the topic. For example, after discussing the nature of arousal, includ- ing defmitions, origins, and how arousal is generated, the authors present a model depicting the arousal-performance relationship and all its mediating factors. Although similar models have been presented before, this one consolidates all the important factors into a logical and easy-to-follow diagram. In addition, an excellent description and summary table of arousal measures is contained in this chapter. Its unique contribution is the "formula" the authors derive for estimat- ing the optimal arousal level and peak performance based on the complexity of the sport skills required. This formula will likely be tested by researchers and practitioners alike.

A great deal of important and practical information for coaches is found in chapter 12, "Relaxation and Energizing Techniques for Regulation of Arousal," by Dorothy Harris. However, I found it a bit laboring to read and felt that it was very long and too broad. The introduction alone spans five pages. Subhead- ings would have made these first pages a bit more readable. Another nine pages of this chapter are devoted to breathing and progressive relaxation exercises.

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Although the chapter does highlight practical strategies, they could have been placed in an appendix. Doing so would have lent more flow to the chapter and a sharper focus on the key points regarding relaxation techniques.

I thorougMy enjoyed the approach taken in the chapter on "linagery Train- ing" by Robin Vedey. After first describing a number of common athletic ex- periences, she presents the theoretical explanations for the imagery-performance relationship, and the scientific and anecdotal evidence for the technique's effec- tiveness. What follows is a thorough and exciting discussion on sehting up the imagery program with athletes, including a number of realistic and fun exercises, and general principles of using imagery. The sample programs and Sport Bm- agery Questionnaire are placed at the end of the chapter so as not to break its flow. This is an excellent chapter for a review of the literature and for deriving common and workable principles in sport.

Although P really liked the chapter by Linda Bunker and Jean Wiliams, "Cognitive Techniques for Improving Performance and Building Confidence," the title is misleading. The chapter is redly about using self-talk to improve perfor- mance. "Building Confidence7' is the misleading part in that there is no mention of Bandura's self-efficacy theory or the research in sport that supports it. Also, there is more to building confidence than using positive selftalk, but these strate- gies are given only a cursory achowledgment in the introduction. Other than this, the chapter does offer a coqrehensive look at self-talk and principles for changing one's own irrational or distorted thinking. I was a little surprised at the scant use of references throughout the chapter, and especially the l&k of ci- tations of empirical studies that support many of the prescriptive statements made in the chapter.

The next two chapters, one by Bob Nideffer and one by Andrea Schmid and Eric Peper, focus on concentration and could easily have been combined into one chapter. It would have incorporated nicely the theoretical, empirical, and practical views of attentional control. Nideffer's chapter is mostly a rehash of previous chapters or articles written by him. In addition, the only references used are his own, and only one refers to an empirical study. Given the number of studies published since the inception of the TAIS, and some of its criticisms, it was sur- prising that Nideffer did not include a discussion of these topics. Schmid and Peper's account of Techniques for Training Concentration is an appropriate and refreshing contribution to this text. Schmid and Peper offer a number of new and exciting approaches to enhancing concentration in athletes, and also use good examples from several sports.

1 felt that the chapter on self-hypnosis by Lars-Eric Unestiihl was inappropri- ate for an undergraduate text for prospective coaches, or even for current coaches. First, athletics is not even mentioned until the fourth page and there is very little attempt to apply principles of hypnosis to athletes and coaches. Similarly, little is discussed in this chapter that was not already discussed in the previous chap- ters. Finally, as with Nideffer, the author references only himself although there have been other articles to bridge the hypnosislsport performance relationship.

The final chapter in this section, "Integrating and Implementing a Psycho- logical Skills Training Program," by Bean Williams, is a much needed synthesis and summary of the 10 preceding chapters. In essence, Williams addresses the basic questions of developing a psychological skills program and does an excel-

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lent job of it. In fact, coaches may find themselves reading this "overview" chapter first before delving into the specifics of the other chapters.

The last section of the book includes chapters on burnout (Henschen), injury rehabilitation (Rotella & Heyman), and termination from athletics (Ogil- vie & Howe). The strength of this section lies in its treatment of important but heretofore neglected topics in sport psychology. Keith Henschen does a nice job of defining and providing the precursors to burnout, carefully including the few references there are on this topic. He takes an interactional approach to diagnos- ing and recommending solutions to burnout-by specifying the environmental fac- tors and personality characteristics susceptible to burnout.

Bob Rotella and Steve Heyman's chapter on psychology and the injured athlete comprehensively reviews what little research has been conducted in the area. Sections include factors that predispose athletes to injury, athletes' reac- tions to injury, treating injured athletes, and teaching specific psychological re- habilitation strategies.

For their chapter on "The Trauma of Termination from Athletics," Bruce Ogilvie and Maynard Howe must have had a difficult task, given the scant atten- tion devoted to this area. I'm not sure the word "trauma" belongs in the title, given only the anecdotal evidence and, more recently, the research by Susan Greendorfer at the University of Illinois that termination may not be all that trau- matic if athletes continue to participate at less intense levels or pick up other sports, Nevertheless, this chapter is certainly thought-provoking and raises some very important issues to consider at all developmental levels of competition.

In all, Applied Spon Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Per$ormance is a comprehensive and state-of-the-art text on current issues in sport psychology for coaches, athletes, and students of physical education. Most chapters do an excellent job of providing theoretical rationales, general principles of applica- tion, and specific techniques and strategies. This book would make an excellent text for an undergraduate coaching psychology class or as a supplement in a gradu- ate sport psychology course.