Table 3 Principle, aim, rationale, and examples of sport psychology exercises for coaches and players developed by research team members and evaluated by experts and end-users (players)
Principle | Aim | Rationale | Example exercise for coaches* | Example exercise for players** |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Self-awareness | The aim is to support youth players to become aware of and reflect about their psychological and physical state. | Self-awareness is a basic step toward handling arousal and energy level. Being able to become conscious of one’s physical and psychological state enables the athlete to respond in an optimal way to the present situation. | Check-In, check-out | Note thoughts, emotions, and behaviors |
Relaxation | The aim is to introduce different techniques for relaxation and relief in muscle tension | Conforming to the stress-injury model[35], injury risk depends on the stress response of the individual. A strong stress response has been shown to be related with injury risk[36]. The stress response can include muscular tension and attentional deficits. In order to buffer the stress response, it is proposed to actively work with relaxation and attentional techniques. | Progressive muscle relaxation | Progressive muscle relaxation, breathing exercises, music |
Being in the present moment | The aim is increased awareness of one’s attention. This includes for example becoming aware when one’s attention wandered from the task at hand and being able to re-focus on it. | Being here and now, focus loop, mindful stretching | Being here and now, focus loop, mindfulness-based exercises | |
Prevent and handle stress | The aim is increased applied knowledge about strategies related to recovery, prevention of stress and coping with stressful situations. | Based on the stress-injury model[35], life stress is a major contributor to the stress response. High levels of negative life-event stress have been shown to be related with injury risk[36]. | Recovery in practice, sleep | Recovery in practice, plan your recovery, sleep, my stress signals, problem solving, mindfulness exercise coming back to the present moment when stressed, weekly planning, screen time |