Performance development of adolescent swimmers: A Mindfulness-Acceptance

210 Pages·2014·2.36 MB·English

Performance development of adolescent swimmers: A Mindfulness-Acceptance-
Commitment (MAC) approach

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December 2013
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“Those who get the farthest are passionate, driven and positive. They not only aim
high for themselves, they also support and lift up others.”
Brooke Griffin
(Dweck, 2006)

My thanks and appreciation to both Prof. Lourens Human and my mom, Joy Leon.
Without them this research project would not have been possible or successful.
Thank you for all your continued support and faith in me.

Also, thank you to the athletes and staff at the High Performance Centre (hpc) for
affording me the opportunity to conduct my research there.

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ABSTRACT

For the past three decades performance development in sport has been steered by
traditional Psychological Skills Training (PST) programmes. However, in the last
decade, the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) approach to
performance development in sport has been introduced. To date, there is limited
research on the MAC approach and there are currently no published studies in
South Africa. The goal of this study was to explore the participant’s experiences of
the MAC programme with reference to what they learnt through the programme,
how they applied their learning to their swimming and how they transferred their
learning to their lives. This study is an Interpretive Phenomenological view of five
adolescent swimmers (two female and three male) at the High Performance Centre
(hpc), in South Africa (SA). The participants partook in a one-day swimming-
specific MAC programme and thereafter, semi-structured interviews were
conducted with the participants. An interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
was used for analysing the data gained from the interviews. The findings indicate
that the participants had experiences which were consistent, inconsistent or unique
in relation to the literature review.

Key words: Adolescents, High School, Interpretive Phenomenology,
Interviews, Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC),
Performance Development, Psychological Skills Training
(PST), South Africa, Sport, Swimming.

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ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Chapter Description
ACT Chapter 2 Acceptance Commitment Therapy
CBT Chapter 2 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
CEO Chapter 4 Chief Executive Officer
DP Chapter 3 Descriptive Phenomenology
DPRM Chapter 3 Duquesne Phenomenological Research
Method
hpc Chapter 1 High Performance Centre
HPCSA Chapter 1 Health Professions Council of South
Africa
IP Chapter 1 Interpretive Phenomenology
IPA Chapter 3 Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis
MA Chapter 1 Master of Arts
MAC Chapter 1 Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment
MCS-SP Chapter 1 Multi-level Classification System for
Sport Psychology
MSPE Chapter 2 Mindful Sport Performance
Enhancement
PD Chapter 1 Performance Development
PDy Chapter 1 Performance Dysfunction
PI Chapter 1 Performance Impairment
PST Chapter 1 Psychological Skills Training
PT Chapter 1 Performance Termination
RQ1 Chapter 1 Research Question One
RQ2 Chapter 1 Research Question Two
RQ3 Chapter 1 Research Question Three
SA Chapter 2 South Africa
S1 Chapter 5 Swimming Participant One
S2 Chapter 6 Swimming Participant Two
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S3 Chapter 7 Swimming Participant Three
S4 Chapter 8 Swimming Participant Four
S5 Chapter 9 Swimming Participant Five
TUC Chapter 1 Transvaal University College
UK Chapter 2 United Kingdom
UP Chapter 1 University of Pretoria
USA Chapter 2 United States of America

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Abbreviations iv

CHAPTER 1
BACKGROUND

1.1 CONTEXT p 1

1.1.1 University of Pretoria p 1
1.1.2 Psychology Department p 2
1.1.3 High Performance Centre p 2

1.1.3.1 Background Information p 2
1.1.3.2 Sport Psychology Services p 3
1.1.3.3 Sport Psychology Services Dilemma p 5
1.1.3.4 Sport Psychology Services Resolution p 5

1.2 SWIMMING p 6

1.3 QUESTIONS p 7

1.3.1 Research Question 1 p 7
1.3.2 Research Question 2 p 7
1.3.3 Research Question 3 p 7

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1.4 GOALS p 7

1.4.1 Primary Goals p 7
1.4.2 Secondary Goals p 8

1.5 MOTIVATION p 8

1.5.1 Academic Motivation p 8
1.5.2 Personal Motivation p 9

1.6 OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS p 9

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS TRAINING IN SPORT p 12

2.1.1 Origin p 13
2.1.2 Philosophy p 13
2.1.3 Psychological Skills p 14

2.1.3.1 Goal Setting p 14
2.1.3.2 Arousal Control p 14
2.1.3.3 Imagery p 14
2.1.3.4 Self-talk p 15
2.1.3.5 Performance Routines p 15

2.1.4 Research p 16

2.1.4.1 Research Studies p 17
2.1.4.2 Research Summaries p 18
2.1.4.3 Research Findings p 19
2.1.4.4 Research Critique p 20

2.2 MINDFULNESS-ACCEPTANCE-COMMITMENT IN SPORT p 21

2.2.1 Origin p 21

2.2.1.1 Origin of Mindfulness p 21
2.2.1.2 Origin of Acceptance-Commitment p 21
2.2.1.3 Origin of Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment in Sport p 22

2.2.2 Philosophy p 22
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2.2.3 Psychological Practices p 23

2.2.3.1 Mindfulness versus Mindlessness p 23
2.2.3.2 Acceptance versus Avoidance p 24
2.2.3.3 Commitment versus Motivation p 25

2.2.4 Research p 25

2.2.4.1 Research Studies p 26
2.2.4.2 Research Summaries p 28
2.2.4.3 Research Findings p 30
2.2.4.4 Research Critique p 30

2.3 MINDFULNESS-ACCEPTANCE-COMMITMENT AS THE
APPROACH IN THIS RESEARCH p 31

2.4 PERSONAL REFLECTION p 33

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CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH POSITION

3.1 PHENOMENOLOGY p 35

3.2 DESCRIPTIVE PHENOMENOLOGY p 36

3.2.1 Origin p 36
3.2.2 Ontology p 36
3.2.3 Epistemology p 37
3.2.4 Methodology p 37
3.2.5 Axiology p 38
3.2.6 Rhetoric p 39
3.2.7 Critique p 39

3.3 INTERPRETIVE PHENOMENOLOGY p 39

3.3.1 Origin p 39
3.3.2 Ontology p 39
3.3.3 Epistemology p 40
3.3.4 Methodology p 40
3.3.5 Axiology p 42
3.3.6 Rhetoric p 42
3.3.7 Critique p 42

3.4 INTERPRETIVE PHENOMENOLOGY AS A RESEARCH
POSITION p 42

3.5 PERSONAL REFLECTION p 43

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