Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to identify what psychological skills successful women's collegiate swimming coaches employed with their teams. Research has suggested that coaches may use a variety of psychological skills to improve athletes' mental toughness, confidence, concentration, composure, and motivation. The coaches that finished in the top 30 at the NCAA Division I National Swimming Championships from the 1995-1998 seasons were surveyed. Twenty-four coaches responded to the survey instrument which focused on if they implemented psychological skills training, what skills were taught, time spent teaching skills, who implemented the skills, reasons why skills were not implemented, and their attitudes (or perceptions) regarding skill effectiveness. Results showed that the majority of the coaches implemented goal setting, relaxation, arousal regulation, imagery/visualization, self-talk, concentration, and motivation. Over the three-season period, psychological skills training was conducted an average of 57.6 minutes each week with the head coach responsible for the majority of implementation. Coaches noted a lack of time, the school not providing a sport psychologist/consultant, lack of knowledge on the topics, and their athletes' disbelief in psychological skills training effectiveness as reasons for not implementing skills. Overall, the coaches found all psychological skills implemented with their teams to be effective. Results suggest that successful women's swimming teams use psychological skills to give them the advantage to perform at an optimal level.