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The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of coaches’ perceptions of their role in the development of life skills in adolescent athletes in two different sport contexts. Semistructured interviews were held with 24 coaches: 12 coaching high school basketball and 12 coaching community swimming. All coaches followed a holistic, athlete-centered approach. Coaches described the life skills they taught, their motivations, and the strategies they used to foster life skills development in practice. Although some differences between the two contexts were identified, the overall results indicate that all coaches fostered the development of life skills through various teaching and transfer strategies, and that coaches had two main motivations: athletes’ needs and their own values. The main results are discussed in light of the literature on life skills in sport and positive youth development, and in terms of methodological considerations. The study concludes with some practical recommendations for coaches.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an imagery intervention for enhancing the experience of flow state and performance in junior athletes. On the basis of previous results, a tailored imagery script was developed to target critical flow dimensions, namely challenge-skills balance, clear goals, concentration on the task, and sense of control. It was hypothesized that the use of cognitive and motivational imagery would increase specific flow dimensions, which, in turn, would enhance flow state and competition performance. Participants in a single-case, multiple baseline A-B design study were four nationally ranked athletes. Following a 6-week baseline phase monitoring flow state and performance and a 6-week intervention phase using relaxation in conjunction with imagery techniques, three participants showed a sustained increase in flow experiences, and all four participants improved their service performance, groundstroke performance, and ranking-list position.

The purpose of this article is to present practitioners and applied researchers with specific details of an ecological-inspired program and intervention in a professional football (soccer) club in Denmark. Based on an ecological agenda, the aim is to reinforce the culture of psychosocial development in the daily practice of a professional football academy, provide the skills required to succeed at the professional level and create stronger relations between the youth and professional departments. The authors suggest six principles as fundamental governing principles to inform an intervention inspired by the holistic ecological perspective. Descriptions of the intervention program and findings are presented in four interconnected steps. Insights are provided into delivery of workshops, the supervision of the coach, on-pitch training, evaluation of the program, and integrating sport psychology as a part of the culture within the club.

Although many researchers have examined ill-being (e.g., injury and illness) in dancers, few researchers have examined well-being. In the current study, dancer’s perceptions of the dance motivational climate, dance performance anxiety, dance self-concept, and their relationships to dance well-being were examined. A total of 182 university dance students from five universities completed surveys and a series of multiregression analyses were undertaken to predict well-being. Both dance self-concept and perceptions of a task climate were moderately related to well-being and contributed significantly to elements of well-being: vigor, enthusiasm, confidence, and dedication. An ego climate was unrelated to any of the four dimensions of well-being. Substantial variance was predicted in the various elements of engagement, ranging from 15% to 55%. In particular, two significant interactions indicated that a task climate may have protective effects against anxiety in terms of reducing the detrimental influence that anxiety may have on two forms of well-being: confidence and dedication.

Sibling relationships are often regarded as among the longest lasting connections in a person’s life (Conger & Kramer, 2010). Sibling research has addressed topics such as socialization, support, and similarities and differences of siblings (e.g., Eaton, Chipperfield, & Singbeil, 1989; Horn & Horn, 2007; Whiteman, McHale, & Crouter, 2007). Scant attention has been given to how a younger sibling may be influenced by an older sibling’s sport involvement. The current study explored the lived experience of an older sibling’s sport achievement from the perspective of a younger sibling. An open-ended phenomenological approach (Kvale, 1983) was used to gain a description of the experience of sibling achievements in sport. Participant interviews revealed an overall thematic structure consisting of both positive and negative experiences: family influence, social influence, fondness, identity, abandonment, and jealousy. These findings broaden both sibling and sport literature, while providing valuable information for researchers and practitioners.

The use of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) in sport psychology has received scant research attention. Therefore, little is known about how REBT can be adopted by sport psychology practitioners. This paper principally outlines how practitioners can use REBT on a one-to-one basis to reduce irrational beliefs in athletes. Guidance is offered on the introduction of REBT to applied contexts, the REBT process through which an athlete is guided, and offers an assessment of the effectiveness of REBT with athletes. It is hoped that this paper will encourage other practitioners to adopt REBT in their work and to report their experiences.

This paper establishes current theoretical understanding on the development of professional judgment and decision-making (PJDM) expertise within applied sport psychology (ASP). Traditional and naturalistic paradigms of decision making are contrasted and the resulting blending of systematic analysis and intuition most appropriate for applied practice is explained through the concept of skilled intuition (Kahneman & Klein, 2009). Conditions for the development of skilled intuition are considered alongside recognition of the fragility of human judgment and the subtleties of the ASP environment. Key messages from cognitive psychology literature on the development of PJDM expertise are offered and recommendations made to facilitate the acquisition of decision-making expertise in ASP.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the components necessary for the development of an effective applied sport psychology consulting relationship between a sport psychology consultant (SPC) and a coach. To address this purpose, two SPC-Coach consulting relationship case studies will be presented. Following purposeful sampling methods, members of two SPC-Coach consulting relationships (2 SPCs and 2 elite coaches) participated in individual interviews to discuss their perceptions of effective consulting relationships. Inductive \content analysis was conducted to search for common themes both within and across the two case studies (Weber, 1990). Three categories emerged with shared similarities between both case study relationships as important to the development of effective consulting relationships between SPCs and coaches; (a) SPC knowledge; (b) trust; and (c) friendship. In addition, two categories individual to each of the case study consulting relationships emerged; (d) SPC fitting in with team culture; and (e) flexibility.

This study highlights how sport psychology professionals can assist sport administrators in evaluating and strengthening youth sport programs. A sport psychology research team provided expertise to two sport administrators to develop a survey to examine their athletes’ experiences participating in the programs. The study examines the relationship between athletes’ perceptions of the climate (caring, task, and ego involving) to their intrinsic motivation, caring behaviors, and future intention to participate in the sport. Volleyball clinic (Sample 1: N = 71) and basketball summer camp (Sample 2: N = 138) participants completed the survey. Canonical correlation analyses for each sample revealed one significant function indicating that the athletes’ perceptions of a caring/task-involving climate, along with low perceptions of an ego-involving climate, were associated with higher levels of intrinsic motivation, caring behaviors, and future desire to participate. Sport administrators can use this information for coach training, parent education and overall program evaluation.