Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 1

A Case Study on how Psychological Skills Training Will Affect Division III Baseball Players and
Their Performance

by

Kyle Broussard, B.S

A Proposal Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Education

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
EAST TEXAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

May 2018
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 Page

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 3-4
Theoretical Model………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4-5
Purpose of the Study.............................................................................................. 5
Research Questions……………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Definition of Terms……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6-7
Significance of Study…………………………………………………………………………………………… 7
Limitations of Study……………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8-9

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9-11
Psychological Skills Training………………………………………………………………………… 11-15
Imagery…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15-18
Self-Talk…………….……………………………………………………………………………………. 18-20
Goal-Setting…….…………………………………………………………………………………………… 20-24
Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
24-25

CHAPTER 3
Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25-26
Procedure……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 26-27
Setting and Participants…………………………………………………………………………………… 28

Athlete Participants……………………………………………………………………………………. 28-29

Sampling……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 29
Coach Participants……………………………………………………………………………………. 29
Data Collection………………………………………………………………………………………………… 29
Observations…………………………………………………………………………………………..
29-30
Reflections……….…………………………………………………………………………………….. 30
Student Artifacts…..……………………………………………………………………………………. 30
TimeLine of Data Collection………………………………………………………………………. 31
Trustworthiness……………………………………………………………………………………………… 31-32
Validity……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 32
Biases…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 32
Peer Debriefing…………………………………………………………………………………………. 32
Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 32-33
Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 33

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………….. 34
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 3

Chapter 1

Introduction

“90 percent of the game is half mental”

-Yogi Berra

I am currently the graduate assistant for baseball at East Texas Baptist University which

is a Division III school in Texas. Before this I played 4 years of Division III baseball, three of

which at the University of Texas at Tyler. During my time there we were constantly ranked in the

top 25 in the nation, and at one point ranked #2. During my time as a division III player I was

teammates with numerous players who played at a higher level either at the JUCO, DII, or D1

levels. Division III baseball has many players and teams that are talented, but the thing that I

noticed that holds many of the players back are their psychological skills. Many of the players I

have played with, or have now coached lack mental toughness.

In baseball stats a good hitter is someone who is hitting over .300. That means the hitter

is failing seven out of ten times. How hitters respond to getting out can dictate how the entire

games goes for them. As a player I saw many of my teammates come in into the dugout after

getting out, and throw their equipment and use bad language. One of my teammates would come

into the dugout after getting out and throw hit helmet and batting gloves into the trashcan every

time. He was a really good hitter too, but his ability to handle failure held him back from

becoming an even better player. He has an extremely successful freshman and sophomore year,

but really struggled his junior year. Players like that are more likely to go through phases were

they are in slumps, because they allow the failures to eat at them, and they begin to think and try

to do too much at the plate.

Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 4

During the 2018 spring season at ETBU we had many players who were talented, but

would let their body language and emotions control them on the field. When they or someone

else would make a mistake you could see their shoulder slump, and their hands fly around in

frustration. They would take that body language into the next play or into their next at bat, and

they would not do well. One thing I have noticed at the DIII level is when one player starts to

show mental weakness it carries over into other players. That was a problem we faced this year

our upper classmen who were supposed to be our leaders, were mentally weak. We had a team

full of freshman, and when things would go bad they would look at those upper classmen and see

them being babies, and would proceed to copy what they would do throughout the season. As a

coach that is frustrating to see.

During the 2018 spring semester I was taking a sports and exercise psychology class in

my graduate program. I became extremely interested in this class, and I began to watch our team

and coaching staff a little more depth to see how we handled things psychologically. At the DIII

level all of the available is spent of the physical skills of baseball, and none on the mental side, at

least at the school I have been at. As I begin to see how as a whole team, coaching staff included

we struggled with psychological skills, and learned that psych skills can be trained and learned. I

became intrigued on how psychological skills training can affect the performance of a DIII

baseball player.

Theoretical Model

The theoretical model for this study is the Test of Performance Strategies or TOPS. The

purpose of TOPS was to have an instrument that gives the ability to assess how athletes use their

psychological skills in both practice and games (Taylor, Gould, & Rolo, 2008).
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 5

The TOPS has 64 questions that scores 16 psychological skills. They are broken into

eight game and practice subscales. The main psych skills that are tested are emotion, imagery,

relaxation, goal-setting, self-talk, and attention. The test also allows you to compare your scores

to Olympic athletes. Over the year it has been demonstrated that more-successful athletes have

better concentration, lower levels of anxiety, higher self-confidence, and more task-oriented

thoughts. Also, they have more positive imagery and thoughts (Taylor et al., 2008)

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to determine how psychological skills training affects the

performance of a Division III baseball player. The key subscales of psychological skills that

would be trained are imagery, positive-self talk, and short-term goals. This study will explore

how players handles failures such as getting out on hard hit balls, striking out, and committing

errors any differently than pre psychological skills training. It will also look into if players

handle practice any different after going through the psych skills training. The areas of

performance that will be judged will be slugging percentage, on-base percentage, walk to strike

out ratio, and errors committed.

Research Questions

1. How does psychological skills training affect Division III baseball players, and their

handling of failure during practice and games?

2. Does psychological skills training affect the on-field performance of Division III baseball

players?
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 6

Definition of Terms

Test of Performance Strategies

Is a 64 question survey that assess 16 psychological skills in both practice and

competition. The 16 skills are broken into 8 subscales for both practice and games

(Taylor et al., 2008).

Psychological Skills Training

‘‘Psychological skills training (PST) refers to the systematic and consistent

practice of mental or psychological skills for the purpose of enhancing

performance, increasing enjoyment, or achieving greater sport and physical

activity self-satisfaction (Birrer & Morgan, 2010)

Imagery

Imagery can be called visualization or mental rehearsal. It uses all of your senses

to rehearse your sport I your mind. (Dr. Jennifer Cumming)

Self-Talk

Can be seen as a cognitive awareness, that allows individuals to reflect and

regulate themselves to develop a sense of motivation, thinking, and behavior in

various ways (Miller, Thomas, Brinthaupt, Pennington 2018).

Open-skilled

“An open motor skill is a skill which is performed in an unstable environment,

where the start point is determined by the environment.” (Cahill 2018)

Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 7

Closed-skilled

“A closed motor skill is a skill which is performed in a stationary environment,

where the performer chooses when to start the skill.” (Cahill 2018)

Task Oriented

Enhancing performance, developing better skills (Lameiras, Almeida, & Garcia-

Mas 2014).

Ego Oriented

Being better than the others, achieving superiority (Lameiras et al., 2014).

Significance of Study

The main purpose of this study is to see how psychological skills training affects Division

III baseball players. Baseball is a very mental game that brings a lot of failures to players. How

well a player can handle those failures is based on how mentally strong or weak they are. A good

hitter stat wise in baseball is going to fail seven out of ten times. A hitter or pitcher can do

everything mechanically right that they needed to do in order to be successful, and still fail.

Testing psychological skills training will allow us to see if those skills when developed can help

players handle failure in baseball differently, and ultimately improve their performance on the

field. Just like baseball, life is full of failures. If we can help players overcome them in baseball

using psych skills, then they can also take those skills into the real world and overcome failures

they will face.

Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 8

Limitations of Study

There are three main limitations for this study. The first being that there will not be much

time to conduct the study, or much time for the athletes. An off-season for DIII baseball last 12

days normally, and the season is 40 games about 16 weeks, so the time a coach has face-to-face

with athletes is spent on physical skills needed for baseball. Athletes at the DIII level have to

focus on grades, and some work jobs. Leaving not much spare time for other things.

The second limitation for this study would be a coach or myself would be implementing

the psychological skills training program, not a sports psychologist. The athletes and myself

would be the ones judging the effects of the program.

The third limitation would be if the sample athletes are putting their 100 percent effort

into the psychological skills training. Some not all DIII players can be lazy when it comes to

improving their game. They are satisfied with their skill level, and are just playing baseball to

have something to do and have fun. I would be worried that the samples used are some of those

players, therefore they would not put the effort into trying to improve their psych skills, or they

would lie about how feel they affected them.

Conclusion

This study will provide coaches and baseball players with information regarding how

psychological skills training affects baseball players. This study will help us better understand

that training psychological skills with the same attitude as physical skills can help players

perform, and handle failure better. We will also be able to see how DIII baseball players compare
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 9

when it comes to psychological skills being used in practice and games to Olympic athletes using

TOPS.

Chapter 2

Literature Review

To provide credibility toward psychological skills training, and to give better insight on

how PST can impact the performance of a Division III baseball player. This section will attempt

to gather evidence for this research proposal. The review of literature will be broken into four

areas. The sections of focus will be what literature says about psychological skills training, the

usage of mental imagery, positive self-talk, and goal setting. This section will also serve as a

background to answer the research questions stated in chapter one.

1. How does psychological skills training affect Division III baseball players, and their handling

of failure during practice and games?

2. Does psychological skills training affect the on-field performance of Division III baseball

players?

The first area of review is the concept of psychological skills training. When it comes to

competing and practicing at a high level many people tend to focus on the physical aspects of the

game, and not so much on the mental side. When it comes to games that is when people decide

all of a sudden that players need to be mentally strong, and be able to handle the difficult

situations. However, it can be extremely difficult to handle those situations if you have not been

taught ways to do so. That is why there should be a higher focus on practicing psychological

skills in a similar manner as practicing physical skills. It is felt from sport psychologist that if

athletes have been give simulated training to learn how to handle adversity and others stressors
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 10

that come with competitive sports, they can put past failures they encounter out of their minds

easier (Weinberg, Freysinger, Mellano, & Brookhouse 2016).

The second area of focus is the usage of mental imagery. Every player already uses

imagery in some fashion. Whether it is daydreaming during class, imagining what they will eat

for dinner, who what the night with friends will look like. Mental imagery uses several senses to

help create a demonstration of actions in the mind. Especially plays that can have an absence of

evident physical movement (Wright, Sheree, McCormick, Birks, & Loporto 2015). In

this case the players will use mental imagery to rehearse potential plays they may encounter

during competition. They will use the mental imagery during competition, that way when on-

deck or waiting for a pitch they can visualize what they are trying to accomplish. They should

also use mental imagery to have an idea of what the game atmosphere will look, and feel like.

The third area of review is the impact of positive self-talk. Self-talk can be seen as a

cognitive awareness, that allows individuals to reflect and regulate themselves to develop a sense

of motivation, thinking, and behavior in various ways (Miller, Thomas, Brinthaupt, Pennington

2018). For baseball players it is important that they be able to maintain a positive attitude no

matter how their performance is going. Finding the positive throughout times of struggle during

practices and competitions can allow the players to get back on track quicker. If negative

thoughts begin to creep into a player’s head and he allows those to stay, then he is risking falling

further into slumps. That is why positive self-talk can be an important skill to have not only in

baseball, but life.

The last area of review is goal-setting. Everyone in life has goals they want to

accomplish. Goals are a big part of the baseball world. There are team goals and individual goals.
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 11

Goals can be broken down inside those two areas. For individuals they may have long term goals

that may be based on their career or the season they are in. That focus on their performance stats

and the type of accolades they receive. They also can have short term goals that can change week

to week, or game to game. These goals do not have to focus just on the stats and accolades.

These can focus on areas such as getting a certain amount of extra swings in a day, or focusing

on a weakness and trying to improve it before the next game. Short term goals allow the athletes

to be flexible with goals, and focus on their areas they need to improve and not just their stats.

Psychological Skills Training

Psychological skills training is still something that people can have mixed feelings about

when it come to the improvement of performance. If you have ever played a sport, you know

your psychological skills can be tested during both practice and competition. To get a better

understanding of what psychological skills are we will review articles that cover a wide range of

ideas, and how those skills affect performance.

In one study created by Taylora, Gouldb, and Roloa (2008) they wanted to investigate the

reliability of the TOPS, along with the instruments ability to distinguish medal status, gender,

and age of selected Olympians that competed in the 2000 Sidney games. A reason for wanted to

investigate this matter, it through literature reviews they noticed that psychological skills were

mainly focused on during competition. That no other instrument measured both practice and

game usage of psychological skills. That is why the TOPS was developed to allow the testing of

16 psych skills, broke into eight game subscales and eight practice subscales. It was

hypothesized that medalist would have higher scores then non-medalists on the TOPS (Taylora et

al., 2008). It was also believed that since the athletes that compete in the Olympics are in great
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 12

physical shape, that mental skills could be a deciding factor on who reaches the highest level.

The sample had a size of 176 U.S. athletes with an average age of 28 and the youngest being 18

and oldest being 45. 82 were male and 94 female athletes from 28 sports, and form those 52

medaled and 124 did not. The athletes received the TOPS questionnaire three months prior to the

completion of the games. They found that females reported more self-talk usage, younger adults

had greater automaticity, and older athletes had better imagery scores. They also discovered that

medalist did use more psychological skills in practice and competition, than non-medalist did.

Imagery, self-talk, and emotional control wound up being the biggest factors for the success of

Olympic performance.

Another study also examined the difference between mental skill usage in practice and

competition. Athletes usually spend almost 99 percent of their time practicing, and roughly 1

percent in competitions. Three major purposes of the study were to examine 1) what mental

skills athletes use in practice and competition settings, 2) if there is any difference of mental

skills usage based on past mental skills training experience, and 3) if there is any perception

differences based on mental skill usage. It was hypothesized that mental skills usage would be

higher in competition than practice, athletes would use mental skills more if they had previous

training experience with it, and higher perceptions of success would lead to greater usage of

mental skills. Using 199 NCAA Division I baseball or softball players ranging in age from 18 to

25 years. They answered a demographic questionnaire, and the TOPS questionnaire. It was found

11 participants used mental skills highly, 150 used them moderately, and 38 had a low usage

during practice. During competition 51 scored high, 141 scored moderate, and 7 scored low

(Frey, Laguna, & Ravizza 2003). They found a relationship and support that mental skill use in

practice and competition is important. Each hypothesis they had was supported, except the one
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 13

implying experience with mental skills training would affected their usage, but that still showed a

positive relationship.

In another study, Weinberg et al., (2016) wanted to see how sport psychologist who had

expertise in the area of mental toughness could provide information on that topic. Using purpose

sampling 15 sport psychologist with working experience from five to 37 years were asked to

participate. Using face-to-face interviews, semi-structured qualitative interviews over a four-

week period. The participants gave answers to questions that asked for the definition of mental

toughness, types of mental toughness, how it can be measured, if it is genetic or can be learned,

and the transferability of mental toughness (Weinberg et al., 2016). The participants also were

asked how they would build mental toughness, if they had experience building it, and how

coaches can go about helping their athletes with mental toughness. The participants answered

coaches need to behave mindfully, and that mental toughness did not just happen by chance.

Also that coaches need to learn how to be critical and encouraging, foster autonomy, and see

their athletes as individuals. Coaches need to be mindful of how they think about their staff and

themselves, and be multidimensional. In order to build that mental toughness, they need to be

mindful in what they do. Such as create adversity so athletes can be put in difficult situations

during practice, and teach their athletes mental skills.

In another study, it is found coaches’ attitudes toward PST could not allow for predictions

of coaches’ PST behaviors. It was found that coaches’ PST behaviors can help predict how their

athletes interpret their coaches’ capabilities. Self-confidence and anxiety in athletes also were

found to be related to how the athletes viewed their coaches’ behaviors. Paquette and Sullivan

(2012) came to this conclusion thanks to questionnaires they sent out to 115 coaches and

athletes.
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 14

Using the trans-theoretical model (TTM) constructs Gnacinski, Massey, and Hess (2017)

wanted to examine change and gender differences among collegiate student-athletes in order to

improve to specificity of psychological skills training. The TTM implies that there are five stages

of change that individuals go through while they are adopting and maintaining new behaviors.

Pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance are the stages. The

finding was that there were no significant interaction effect between stage of change and gender.

There are combinations that balance, self-efficacy, and process of change use that discriminated

participants by their stage of change. Others finding suggest that males and females go about

finding PST routines differently. When athletes participate in PST for a long time it is found they

begin to discontinue it, especially when they lose the perceived effects of PST ware off, and their

performance consistency decreases.

Birrer and Morgan (2010) wanted to address what effect PST has on an athlete’s

performance progress while mainly focusing on sport that have high-intensity loads (HIS). First

it is important to know the demands athletes need to meet in order to choose the best

intervention. After finding the demand for HIS it was mentioned that self-skills, arousal-

regulation skills, volitional skills, motivational skills, and recovery skills were the psychological

skills needed. It was suggested that the impacts of fear have numerous effects on athletes, so to

help arousal, strategies like psych-up psych down methods involving imagery, physical

activation, relaxation, and self-talk were used to reduce anxiety. Even though research has

proven those strategies to help in that area, research has not shown a definitive impact on

performance (Birrer & Morgan 2010). Even though that is the case it can be said that if an athlete

makes a minimal enhancement in performance of three percent that number can still be a huge

difference at winning at the highest level. PST should not be there solely on the case to improve
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 15

performance, but to help athletes train hard, compete, maintain plans, and to take care of

themselves.

Imagery

If one cannot imagine their self being successful, then they will never have success.

Mental imagery allows athletes to use their five senses to imagine and rehearse what they need to

accomplish.

In their article Wright, McCormick, Birks, Loporto, and Holmes (2015) focused on

imagery and how it can help improve sport performance. Athletes can use imagery to help create

and control their own performances. They can use positive images to help build their

concentration and see what they need to do to be successful. They used 27 female golfers and

they were tested using the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised that measures the ease in

which the participants can generate visual and kinesthetic images. The participants first

completed the questionnaire, and then went through a six-week training program that included

imagery, action observation, and control training. They were asked to generate, maintain, and

manipulate an image of themselves performing in a golfing context. During the imagery phase

the participants were asked to read a script given to them, practice imagery for 11 minutes three

days per week, over the six-week period. In the action phase participants were asked to watch a

video while wearing golfing attire, holding the same club, and using the same stance. They were

asked to do this twice a day for three days a week over 6 six weeks. They discover that athletes

can gain improvements in performance by engaging in imagery. However, the ability of an

athlete to generate images influences the extent to which imagery is effective.

Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 16

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the SIAQ. Which can assess

abilities of cognitive and motivational image sport specific imagery content. The research had

four studies. In the first study four different types of imagery were discovered skill, goal,

strategy, and affect. Using CFA, they were confirmed in study two. Study three gave more

insight on the four factors along with identifying a fifth mastery of images that was tested in

study four. Study three also distinguished competitive level based on characteristics of athletes.

Validly of the SIAQ was proven thanks to the MIQ-3. Study three gave insight that athletes do

differ in imagery, and it has to do with the content imaged. Supporting the notion that various

images athletes experience should be assessed separately. Higher competition level athletes

found it easier to generate sport images. With the validly of this questionnaire being proven, the

relationship between psychological characteristics that associated with success and failure in

sport, and imagery ability can be further investigated (Williams & Cumming 2011).

There was an investigation to determine how frequent NCAA Division III athletes use

imagery. As well as if the sex and sport of the athletes influenced the usage. Jones, Polasek,

Foley, and Lind (2017) hypothesized that there would be differences of imagery usage between

open and closed-skill sport athletes. Using 337 varsity athlete’s male and female that competed

in 14 different sports. Their research found that sport skill had an influence on imagery usage,

along with sex differences. I was found that MG-M and CS imagery were associated with open-

skilled sports this did not support their hypothesis. There is a difference between open and closed

skilled sports. One factor of imagery usage could have been the overall athletic performance of

the school. It had place in the top 25 every year since 1996. Giving the assumption that both

players and coaches strive for excellence, and are willing to use of added training.
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 17

The purpose of this study wanted to determine what effect internal and external visual

imagery has on open and closed tennis skills. The study consisted of 36 participants in the age

range of 15 to 18 years that were all male tennis players. After determining a bassline for the

participants they were then placed into one of three groups either internal imagery, external

imagery, or no imagery. Interventions using mental imagery exercises for 15 minutes followed by

physical practice for 15 minutes were held for six weeks three times a week. Measures were

done by a video tape, and results showed an increase that was significant in accuracy of serve,

forehand, and backhand shots in all three groups. Serve accuracy in the internal group and

forehand accuracy in the external group saw the best improvements. Findings in this study

showed different efficacy of external and internal visual imagery on improvement of

performance on skills that are complex in early stage motor learning (Dana & Gozalzadeh 2017).

Davis and Sime (2005) wanted to demonstrate how integrating electroencephalograph

biofeedback (EEG) can maximize psychological skills of alertness and concertation. A case study

over a Division I college baseball player who was an All-American his freshman year, but

suffered a serious eye injury his sophomore year after getting hit by a ball. Once he was cleared

his performance struggled the rest of the year having significantly lower stats then the year

before. There were three stages to this consultation interviews and evaluation, implementation of

the intervention, and the follow-up and assessment. During the evaluation face it was discovered

that the injury left a psychological scar in his mind when he stepped up to hit. There were four

stages to his intervention plan first he performed diaphragmatic breathing for 5 minutes he was

instructed to keep the breathing pattern of six seconds in and four seconds out throughout the

session. Second he performed an exercise were he would lift his opposite arm and leg slowly

until his elbow and knee touched. This was exercise was to het coordination between his
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 18

hemispheres in his brain. For the next ten minutes he performed visual exercises. For the final

thing he would do imagery used in conjunction with the EEG biofeedback for 30 minutes. After

going through this intervention during the off-season leading to his junior year he saw renewed

success and better stats then his fist two years. He did not use the intervention the next year, and

show another decline.

Self-Talk

Baseball players have to find ways to maintain a positive attitude throughout the season.

If they do not a slump that starts off as a short one can become a season long slump. That is why

they needed to be able to keep positive thoughts going through their mind as much as possible.

Miller et al., (2018) used 45 runners that participated in Division II of the NCAA. Using

theses participants, the study looked at the relationship between self-talk and flow. The

participants used the Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire to measure their use of self-talk. It was

found that motivational self-talk had a more positive relationship with experience of flow. The

frequency of positive self-talk and flow showed a significant positive relationship too. There was

an inverse relationship with negative self-talk and flow. Miller et al., (2018) interpreted that

certain types of self-talk may benefit athletes more than others. When an athlete uses

motivational self-talk they are usually associated with higher self-efficacy and more confidence,

and can experience greater flow. However, the opposite can be said for when an athlete uses

instructional self-talk, because they can be perceived as more negative.

Three studies were conducted to find the relationship between positive and negative self-

talk (Zourbanos, Papaioannou, Argyropoulou, & Hatzigeorgiadis 2013). As well as finding the

relationship between achievement goals, and to examine perceived competence and the
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 19

relationship between achievement goals and self-talk of students. Study one found support for

achievements goals and perceived competence on positive and negative self-talk of students.

Task oriented has more positive thoughts related to confidence, anxiety control, and instructions.

Study two was similar to study one, but mastery approach goals and self-talk had a lower

significance. Study three found performance avoidance goals had a positive link to positive self-

talk while mastery avoidance goals had no effect on both positive and negative self-talk.

Tod, Hardy, and Oliver (2011) presented systematic review of literature that examined the

relationship between self-talk and performance using a 47 total studies. The results found

demonstrated support for self-talk interventions, and for benefits in performance due to positive,

instructional, and motivational self-talk. It was also found; negative self-talk may not be as

detrimental as on performance as one would expect. It could be that athletes see their negative

self-talk as more of a motivation speech. There was also an inconsistent effect on the benefits of

positive self-talk over negative self-talk. Tod et al., (2011) feel looking into self-talk on

competitive performance, rather than the outcome performance can me more productive when

examining effectiveness in relation to discrete skills. Through the study of literature, it was found

there is support for psychological skills. It was also found that there seems to be no negative

impact from negative self-talk on performance, and that instructional and motivational self-talk

does not have differential effects.

Using 31 NCAA Division I female gymnasts’ participants ranging from 18 to 23 years’

old. This study wanted to find the relationship between collegiate gymnasts’ self-talk and balance

beam performance during competition (Van Dyke, Van Raalte, Mullin, & Brewer 2018). It was

hypothesized that the use of positive self-talk would be linked to better performance and

consistency then those who used less positive self-talk on the balance beam. It was found that
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 20

negative self-talk did not have a significant impact on performance. This could be because of

how the individual interpret negative self-talk. Some may see it as debilitating, while others see

it as motivation. There was a link between instructional and motivational self-talk and

performance on the balance beam, but neither were a significant predictor. Several functions of

self-talk were correlated with balance beam performance and consistency, but none of the

functions emerged as significant predictors. Overall the findings were consistent that positive

self-talk had effects on gymnasts’ balance beam performance and consistency just not as big as

impact as one would expect.

Goal-Setting

When playing baseball athletes have should have goals that they want to accomplish. If

they do to not have goals, then they do not have anything they want to work hard to accomplish.

Goal-setting can be an important part of psychological skills; it allows the players to have

something they are working toward accomplishing.

Vidic and Burton (2010) used a roadmap concept that helps improve performance,

confidence, and motivation through the implementation of action plan strategies. It breaks down

long-term goals throughout the season into short-term goals. Their study used 6 female Division

I tennis players. One player Ann had five areas of her game that she was to focus on improving

mental aspects of her game. With the use of short term goals Ann throughout the season saw an

improvement in her self-confidence, and as her self-confidence improved her performance on the

court improved as well. During the 8-week intervention they wanted to improve both mental and

physical skills. Four goals were implemented and each goal allowed the girls to better their

performance on the court. The test subjects discover that goal setting is not as easy as one thinks,
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 21

and you need cooperation between the athletes and coaches. The athletes need to be motivated

and take ownership of their own goal-setting process. There was a noticeable change in the

athlete’s motivation toward both practice and competition games. Vidic and Burton, D. (2010)

also say that it takes the right goals and the proper implementation steps to get the most effective

outcome from goal setting.

210 participants from various sports ranging from 18 to 37 years old were subject to test

the adaptation of the self-concordance model and it relation to sport-specific goal striving

(Smith, Ntoumanis, & Duda 2009). The motives that underline personal goal striving, motives

for goal attainment, and psychological well-being are the areas the self-concordance model

focuses on. It was hypothesized that goal motives and effort would remain constant as variables

like goal striving, namely, difficulty, specificity, and efficacy changed. Independent motives had

a positive predict effort toward goal setting, and effort was found to have positive predicts

toward goal attainment. Goal attainment was linked to psychological need in a positive predict.

The finding in this study were in line with the self-concordance model, and demonstrate support

for the usage of the model. Controlled motives had no predict on effort toward goal striving.

There was a negative link between controlled motives and well-being. The findings also suggest

the need for psychological satisfaction for goals in autonomy-supportive environments. The

participants in this study rated their goals to be more autonomous then controlled.

O’Brien, Mellalieu, and Hanton (2007) In a study involved a goal-setting model, using

three elite boxers and three non-elite boxers as their participants. There were three stages the

boxers would be put through goal determination, goal setting, and goal reviewing. The boxers

were required to set goals, evaluate limitations to attain those goals, and obtain feedback on their

process. It was hypothesized by O’Brien et al., (2007) that participants would see an
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 22

improvement in the number of punches they landed during competitions. In this case the elite

boxers saw a ten percent increase in punches landed, while the non-elite boxers saw about a five

prevent increase during the goal phase. The data also showed the elite boxers were more

consistent in goal related performance then the non-elite boxers. The elite boxers said that the

goal reviewing stage was the biggest factor in their increased self-confidence, as they realized

they were achieving their goals they were able to stay motivated and positive helping their

performance in return. The non-elite boxers experienced no change in their self-confidence

throughout the intervention. Even though non-elite boxers were improving they were not

meeting their goals on every time, causing them to lose confidence. When it comes to non-elite

boxers to improve confidence goal-setting may not be the only strategy needed adding self-talk

or imagery could be necessary. Elite boxers were able to maintain improvement five months after

the intervention was over, non-elite boxers were not able too.

Team spirt athletes often focus on the task like bettering their skills or on their ego being

better than others. This study investigated relationships between athletes’ goal orientation and

their ability to cooperate with coaches and teammates. Using 158 professional male athletes from

various sports (Lameiras, Almeida, & Garcia-Mas 2014). To the best of their knowledge this was

the first study that self-reported cooperation between professional players in team sports is

associated with goal orientation of athletes. When it came to cooperation athletes who were more

task-oriented tended to be better. Ego-oriented led to less cooperative. Along with being more

cooperative toward players, task-oriented players showed more cooperation with coaches. Task-

oriented is also associated with athletes learning ability, practice commitment, and their ability to

give max effort. Lameiras et al., (2014) results showed a weak negative between cooperation and

a coach that was ego oriented. However, despite some of the correlation in their study there was
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 23

a low predictive power for goal orientation and cooperation in sport. They are related, but more

in independent processes.

This systematic review and meta-analysis wanted to evaluate the effects of goal setting on

behavior change, and for whom goal setting works best for and under what circumstances

(Epton, Currie, & Armitage 2017). One hundred and forty-one papers were analyzed in this

study. People who set goals show greater behavior change. However, even though the effect on

behavior is small it still compares to reviews of other techniques used to change behavior.

Techniques like namely, feedback, commitment, reviewing goals and behavioral contracts

seemed to add little to the effect of goal setting. Epton et al., 2017 results showed that goal

setting can effect behavior and can be successful techniques, and that their review added insights

to goal setting and future research can help maximize how goal setting affects behavior.

Hampson and Harwood (2016) did a case study over eleven athletes and six members of

staff of a team. The team has been underperforming and it was perceived that the failure was

because of organizational leadership. The team had very high standards of winning three medals

at major championships, but they did not know how to do so. Under pressure they tended to fall

apart and drift away from made plans. It took a two tired approach to help insert psychology into

the program one targeting the staff and the other targeting the players. Using a top down

approach the author met with the coaches to identify the previous seasons, specifically what

worked or did not work, the biggest risk of goals, and the potential biggest help over the next few

years. Tier two was a meeting with the athletes they were asked to identify what elite performers

had to do in order to medal in their sport. They were then asked to rate themselves as a squad

using the same characteristics they mentioned about the elite performers. The three main areas
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 24

that were to be focused on during this intervention were meaningful goals that were agreed upon

by staff and players, staff have clear aligned instructions on how to assist the players to reach

their goals, and a reviewing process toward their goals that was impactful. A goal setting

intervention was set into place to help those areas of focus. The most goal any athlete set was

four, and players and coaches had to make final decision together regarding the goals. The goals

of the athletes were put around the training facility to ensure they were not forgotten, and at the

end of each week athletes had to provide a self-taring of their effort toward their goals. After one

month an 86 percent green effort had been achieved for all 37 of the athlete’s goals, and after

level two it remained at 83 percent. To monitor how the staff got along, the amount of times they

deviated from plans was measured, and there was only one insistence when that happen. Using

feedback during meetings and discussing problems as a unit, they staff and athletes said they felt

like a better team. Out of the 37 goals set 22 were fully met over a three-month period, and eight

were partially met. The competitors had the best results in two years using this goal setting

intervention (Hampson & Harwood 2016).

Conclusion

Using psychological skills training is an asset that many teams and players do not fully

use. Anything that can help improve your performance slightly gives you an advantage over your

competitor. Using psychological skills may not turn you into a pro player if your skills are not at

that level, but they still have benefits. Using imagery and goal setting to help self-confidence can

be big in how well you play. We found out that sometimes negative self-talk is not bad, it just

depends on the person using it and how they perceive it. Adding imagery, self-talk, and goal

setting together can give you a better chance at performing better.

Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 25

Chapter 3

Methodology

The information around psychological skills training is still growing as people continue

to do research about the impact it has for athletes. There are people who are critical that PST

does not improve performance. (Barrier & Moore, 2010) discover that some authors like Gardner

and Moore, 2006 did not believe that studies done on PST did not meet the criteria for their

evidence to be supported enough.

The purpose of this study is to determine how psychological skills training will affect the

performance of Division III baseball players. Many baseball players find it easy to play during

high school, and summer ball. However, once they begin to play college baseball things become

more difficult. Especially since players are on their own for the first time trying to handle things

outside of baseball. It is intriguing to think that if players learn how to practice, and use

psychological skills then they will have a better chance of staying concentrated on baseball, and

their performance will increase.

Sport psychologist regularly use imagery, self-talk, and goal-setting which are cognitive

techniques to help competitive athletes (Jones, Polasek, Foley, and Lind, 2017). Therefore, this

study will focus on the psychological subscales of imagery training, positive self-talk, and short

term goal-setting.

1. How does psychological skills training affect Division III baseball players, and their

handling of failure during practice and games?

2. Does psychological skills training affect the on-field performance of Division III baseball

players?
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 26

The methodology proposed in Chapter 3 will attempt to answer these three questions.

Chapter 1 provided summary of the study, listed two research questions, along with describing

the significance and the purpose of the study. Describing key terms that may not be familiar, and

gave a short conclusion. Chapter 2 will provide the review of the literature. This chapter will

provide the procedure, setting, participants, trustworthiness, data analysis and a conclusion.

Procedure

The study will take place at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas. ETBU is a

Division III University that competes in the American Southwest Conference. With 50 players

ranging from age 18-23 the sampling will be purposive, because the subjects will be selected by

hand.

This case study will have both action and narrative research incorporated into the study. I

am currently a coach at ETBU, so I will be observing the players and taking detailed notes on

them. As well as making reflections on the observations, and keeping records of student artifacts.

I will be asking players to give experience about how they perceive the psychological skills

training to be affecting them during different situations in practice and games. Also if any

differences have occurred in how they handle failures, and difficult situations throughout the

season.

I will spend the three week fall season observing what players will be best to participate

in this study. I will be looking closely for players that get frustrated extremely easy when things

are not going their way, and show poor body language after bad plays by themselves or

teammates. When choosing participants, I will want to have players who have been successful at
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 27

the D3 levels, upper classmen, and under classmen. In this study I am mainly focusing position

players. The goal is to have at minimum two catchers, infielders, and outfielders.

The players that I feel should participate in the study will be asked at the beginning of the

spring season to take the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS). Which as mentioned earlier

gives the ability to assess how athletes use their psychological skills in both practice and games

(Taylor et al., 2008). With the primary focus on imagery, self-talk, and goal-setting. The players

will be asked each week to provide information reflecting on how their psychological skills

training is going. At the mid-point in the season (20 game mark) the players will respond to the

TOPS test, and after the season ended they will respond to the test again.

All the players will be asked to spend 20 minutes a day practicing the use of imagery.

The players will also be asked to use positive self-talk through practice and games, and will be

asked to come up with cue words to remind them to stay positive and concentrated. Along with

those two areas the players will be asked to come up with on short-term goal a week that they

would like to accomplish. However, the goals will have restrictions put on them. They need to be

realistic goals, and preferably goals that the players can control. Such as getting 50 extra swings

or ground balls after practice, moving the baserunners over when they have a chance, having an

x amount of plus at bats during the week, and etc. I want to stay away from goals that are straight

performance goals that players cannot always control like getting hits, homeruns, or RBIs.

Rather focus on goals that can be challenging but attainable, and the players have to challenge

themselves to accomplish them.

Setting and Participants

Setting.
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 28

The majority of the setting will take place at a small Baptist University in Marshall,

Texas. The school is East Texas Baptist University it has an enrollment of roughly 1,350

students, and the campus size is around 250 acres. The baseball field is called Woods Field and is

almost in the middle of campus, with a nice turf infield and grass outfield, and a short left-field

wall in distance. The stadium seating is not very big; it is just two small bleachers on both sides

of the press box. The wall down the foul lines are short in height which allows fans to stand next

to in order to watch the games. There is a parking lot down the right field line where people back

their trucks in and watch the games. Down the left field foul line there is an outdoor kitchen area,

where people often cook hot dogs, and hamburgers during the games.

There are going to be several games that are on the road, so players will have to learn

how to practice the skills at other ballparks as well. The participants will also practice their skills

in their dorm rooms, coach’s offices, and hotel rooms. Ultimately there is not just going to be any

certain area players will have to practice their skills. They will have to become comfortable

practicing them in unfamiliar settings, and not just at woods field or their dorm room.

Athlete Participants.

In this study there will be roughly 50 athletes that range in age from 18-23 years of age to

choose from. Roughly of those 50 players 30 will be position players. The study will focus on

position players that play catcher, infield, and outfield. The goal is to have a minimum of six

participants and a maximum of 12. The participants will only be chosen based on their position,

and who the researcher feels can benefit from psychological skills training no other factors

should play a role. It would benefit the study if the participants have never done any

psychological skills training. The athletes will be asked to participate in the study, and be given
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 29

the opportunity to decline. If a player declines, then the next best target will be chosen. If a

participant accepts to participate then they are expected to give their best effort toward the

psychological skills training, and be honest in their answers.

Sampling.

For this study, purposive sampling will be used. Purposeful sampling enables the study of

a case to yield insights about the topic. (Sargent, 2009). During the three week fall season I will

make observations on who could make good participants. From the 30 position players I will

selected anywhere from 6-12 players that I feel can benefit from psychological skills training. I

will have participants from the different positional groups of catcher, infield, and outfield. The

athlete chosen participate will have the option to decline, and if that happens the next best choice

will be chosen.

Coach Participants.

I will be one of the main participants since I am a coach, and will be able to be around the

players and make observations. However, since I am the catcher coach I will not always be able

to keep my eyes on players that play in the infield and outfield. That is why I am going to also

rely on the observations of the other coaches on the staff. The first base coach will have to ability

to better observe how a hitter handles getting out better then myself trying to observe from the

dugout.

Data Collection

Observations.

During the fall season I will make observations on which players could serve as

participants for this study. During the spring season I will rely on observations from myself and
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 30

the other coaches on the staff. The spring season usually last 16 weeks. Therefore, I will have 16

weeks of observations. The observations will be split into practice and games. The observations

are meant to see if there is any difference in how the participants handle situations, and if they

seem to be using imagery or positive self-talk, and if they are trying to accomplish their short

term goals.

Reflections.

After each day, a journal reflection will be written. This just allows the researcher to

better analyze the data while it is still fresh, and gives the researcher a chance to compare the

data to the research questions and identify any problems that may be occurring. The participants

will also be asked to keep a journal of reflections after each day. Their reflections should just

give information on how they handled a certain situation compared to the past, or how they could

have handled something different. Along with giving information on how the PST is going, and

if they have used any of the psych skills.

Student Artifacts.

Interviews will be conducted with the participants once a week to gain better information

on their reflections. Along with interviews surveys such as the TOPS will be given one at the

beginning of the season, middle of the season, and at the end of the season. Along with those two

things I will look at the players batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, walk

to strike out ratio, and errors committed every ten games. To judge their on-field performance. I

will use these three things to make sure I am not making own assumptions.

Timeline of Data Collection

Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 31

There will be several different time frames for data collection. The first will be during the

three week fall season. That will give the researcher a baseline of the psychological skills the

players have, and allow the researcher to pick who should be in the study. The second would be

the collection of the TOPS instrument. The participants would take the test at the beginning,

middle, and end of the year. Each day there will be observations made, along with journal

reflections. Once a week interview would be held with the participants to further discuss their

reflections. After every 10 games the players on-field performance would be collected.

Trustworthiness

The trustworthiness of the research study considers four areas of concern: credibility,

transferability, dependability and confirmability (Sargent, 2002).

This study will seek credibility in a way that the information is clear and easy to follow.

Along with making sure the participants accounts are accurately described and identifiable.

Methods that will be used are triangulation of data, peer briefing, and member checking.

Transferability of the findings during this study will be provided. This case study is

addressing the effects of psychological skills training can have on athletes. This is an area that is

growing in the sports world. I will focus on how PST changes how players handle situations and

if their performance increases. The data learned during this study is hoped to be able to

generalized to other subjects.

The dependability of this study refers to the positivist idea of reliability. One of the

assumptions inherent in qualitative studies is that the social world is always changing. Therefore,

any attempt to replicate a qualitative case study is problematic (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 32

The confirmability of a qualitative study is aligned with the positivist realm of

objectivity. The coach researcher will attempt to control any bias that he has during this study.

Validly.

To ensure validly the researcher will make sure he only reports on what has been

observed by himself or the other coaches. There should not be I heard from someone that the

participant did this. Even when another coach says he observed something the researcher should

ask the player in the interview about that situation to stay clear of making assumptions.

Bias.

The researcher will look for any trends in his observations and reflections to make sure

he is staying clear from it.

Peer Debriefing.

In another attempt to keep validly the researcher will submit his data over to a group of 2-

2 professors or other graduate students. To make sure that the data being kept is being done

correctly.

Data Analysis

There will be three sources of data. They are observations, reflections, and student

artifacts. Myself, along with the others coaches will make observations throughout practices and

games. Journal reflections will be done by myself and the participants to highlight key things

through the week. Under student artifacts falls interviews, the TOPS instrument, and stats. Those

will allow me to make sure I am not making assumptions on my own.

Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 33

The constant comparative method will be used analyze my data. As I begin to receive

data I will separate it into practice and game data. Where I will then look for key phrases, and I

will continue to go through my data to analyze it in deeper thought. I will also analyze what I

observed against what the player was thinking during certain situations.

Conclusion

The purpose of this chapter was to describe the design of the study. The research question

was stated and along with an explanation of the design. Procedures were given as well as the

setting and participants. This chapter also discussed how the data will be collected, how

trustworthiness will be covered, and the steps in which the data will be analyzed.
Psychological Skills Training Performance Affect 34

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