Consultation

A psychological training programme is defined as ' Psychological skills training (PST) is an individually designed combination of methods selected to attain psychological skill needs ' (Gill,2000) It is proven that a PST programme will be ineffective if the athlete can not see the effects psychology will have on performance. This shows that it is important for the athlete to understand the effects psychology has on sports performance in order for the PST to be effective. Each programme has to be designed specifically to the performers psychological state.

Whilst undertaking the consultation phase it gave me a chance to meet the athlete for the first time and learn more about them as a person. The consultation was done before the 6 week training plan so that i got to know the athlete making it easier for me to design at training plan specific to there needs. The consultation took place in the athletes home to ensure that they felt comfortable and relaxed. I only met with the athlete on an individual basis rather than including the coach and parents, I thought this would be better for the athlete and myself as it made them feel more comfortable in answering the questions.

1. During the consultation I asked athlete A a number of questions to get to know them better and understand their psychological state.

2. What level of sport do you play?

Athlete A: I play at a national level competing roughly every other week in my sport.

3. How did you get involved in the sport?

Athlete A: I started playing the sport whilst attending primary school. When I was 5 years old I first competed in a primary schools race.

4. How long have you participated in the sport for?

Athlete A: I have participated in the sport since I was 5 years old.

5. What inclined you to participate in the sport for the first time?

Athlete A: My parents influenced me to take part in the sport as my mum used to run when she was younger.

6. What interests you?

Athlete A: I am interested in sport and the gym, I like to keep fit and make sure that I stay healthy. I am also interested in nutrition and how it affects sports performance, only because I feel like this plays a major part in sports performance.

7.Is there anybody who inspires you?

Athlete A: Jessica Ennis is a massive inspiration of mine how she went from not being known by anybody to become worldwide famous with numerous sponsors.

8. How do you deal with setbacks and disappointments?

Athlete A: I deal with setbacks by keeping quiet and mentally analysing what I could have done better. I feel like this is important as I am not bringing anyone else down I am just keeping it to myself and dealing with it individually.

9. Is there anything you struggle with?

Athlete A: I struggle with keeping my motivation levels high, at the start of a race I get so nervous that I find it hard to be motivated to compete and perform at my best.

10. If you struggle to stay motivated what is it that makes you determined to win and carry on competing in your sport?

Athlete A: I feel like if I don't compete to the best of my ability I will let down myself and my family. It is important for me to do my best to make sure that nobody is let down.

During the consultation I created a SWOT analysis with the athlete to allow myself and them to see their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This was useful as it gives the athlete a conclusion of the different sectors relating to their sport.

Strength	Weaknesses
· Being determined in the sport to perform at their best. · Dedicated to training and diet to maintain healthy.	· Staying motivated in the sport · Becoming nervous before a race/competition
Opportunities	Threats
· To use psychological skills to develop weaknesses into strengths. · Get to learn more about yourself in order to help you increase your sports performance.	· Injuries · Other athletes abilities

This session last roughly an hour, long enough to inform the athlete but not so long that they got bored of the information that was being given and stopped listening. The psychological strategy was a questionnaire that let athlete A understand more about them self as well as giving me an understanding. I chose the activity of doing a SWOT analysis to let the athlete understand they way that I was looking at the questionnaire answers, this would make the athlete feel like they are being included and know what is going on as well as having an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses that they may not have acknowledge before. This will specifically bring benefits to the performer as they are learning about their psychological state which they probably would not have looked into before, especially having it written down using a SWOT analysis it is there to look back on when needed.