Player/Parent Survey 2007

Sports Psychology

There were 100 responses to a question about the use of a sports psychologist and her programs at RAGE. The sample size was 235 participants in the survey.

RAGE has gradually increased the use of the sports psychology tool in the past few years, beginning with D1 team meetings to resolve conflicts, then efforts to enhance player and team performance and most recently to include a four-day camp for younger D1 teams at the beginning of the season. Results are decidedly mixed. Our motivation to incorporate sports psychology is to create a better understanding of psychology, one of the four pillars of soccer. Positive thought and self-talk, imagery, goal setting are only a few of the tools which an athlete can employ to create a far more satisfactory mental environment in which to play. We are convinced that RAGE players will greatly benefit from the right exposure to sports psychology, so we will continue to refine our efforts. In response to a number of parent comments, we do not intend to substitute coaches’ input for those of a trained psychologist. Whereas there may be coaches with excellent (specific circumstances) motivational skills, there are also coaches who largely lack those skills. Few, if any, have any formal training in psychology.

The Player/Parent Survey was sent to about 45 U10 players and several hundred D3 players, none of whom have been exposed to our sports psychology efforts, yet. Therefore about one-third of the answers were similar to, “I haven’t heard about this”. It seems few, if any, families are neutral on this subject. Of the remaining 67 responses,

Very valuable 7

Valuable 24

Not useful 18

Waste of time 17

We believe our marketing of the concept and its benefits is one of the reasons for many of the unenthusiastic answers.

In the summer, we held a four-day (four hours each day) camp, in conjunction with JFK University graduate school staff and interns, for several of our D1 U12, U13 and U14 teams. The Technical Staff had identified these ages as important for an introduction to sports psychology. The girls are young enough to be receptive to new concepts. They are of an age when soccer is becoming more than a game for fun alone. Critical physical skills have been introduced and they are ready to build the mental/psychological pillar of soccer. The simple conclusion is that this was too much in too short a time, with too little focus on soccer. The club did not introduce the camp to our coaches and teams at all satisfactorily. Those involved with JFK were not prepared for the level of competitive intensity of our players. When dressed for soccer and on the Val Vista fields, talking by a bunch of adults is just simply “boring” for most, but far from all.

Our on-going focus has been to hold a few team sessions with Erika Carlson. Two to five sessions will be held with the Premier teams in an effort to develop the concepts of sports psychology and as a bonding tool. Unfortunately, sometimes there are failures, as happened with one team this year. However success and failure are hard to define and what appears to be failure may, in fact, be a means to bring openness to a conflict. That does not mean a happy resolution is the only outcome, but we have found that all teams have personality and chemistry conflicts, any of which can ruin team dynamics. Similarly, personality strengths and strong chemistry can be terrific in the enhancement of cooperation.

A few youngers’ teams were offered the opportunity to identify players for a leadership clinic, which generally included captains. Team captains at RAGE have been selected using various criteria. There is no intent to compel teams to employ a certain means of selecting captains, apart from considerable input from the coaches. There seems to be more enthusiasm among the participants in these sessions.

In summary, the RAGE Technical Staff is convinced of the important role of sports psychology in player development. RAGE is possibly unique in its professional orientation to this concept among girls soccer clubs. We will continue to explore resources which might assist us in achieving our goals.