296 Chris G. Harwood and Karl Steptoe presently recognise a need for development). This type of work enables the design of more individualised psychological support for training and matches. However, more importantly, itis useful for enriching coach-athlete relationships and helping players and parents to see that coaches are interested in the psychosocial facets of their development. Scheme 3: Integrating syste matic and professional support Increased opportunities for qualified practitioners to work in professional youth academy settings (e.g, football, rugby, cricket, tennis) reflect the multidiseiplinary approach taken to the development of expertise. However, there are challenges associated with service delivery to aspiring athletes and these challenges must be negotiated through innovative and adaptive design to demonstrate the efficacy of psychological interventions. Determining role clarity and resource allocation rep- resents an essential foundation with which to meet many of these demands, as an increasing body of academy staff (including managers/directors, coaches, sport scientists, nutritionists, welfare officers, education officers, and chaplains) all have responsibilities for player development. It is important for practitioners to specify how sport psychology services complement and add value to these roles and how meaningful provision can be made to an extensive number of potential clients (e-g, more than 150 across age group phases in a football academy, i.e. players, coaches, and parents) Stage 1: Deploying finite resources appropriately Using professional football as an example, an initial analysis of academy needs will help to identify those best positioned in each phase (1c. foundation (U9-11), youth development (U12-15), and professional development (U16-23)) to shape and reinforce positive psychosocial behaviours, For example, prioritising parent edu- cation in the younger age groups may be important, with an increasing focus on individual and team-level player and coaching support as the development pathway progresses. Opportunities to work with coaches to enhance player performance can he created through: attendance at management meetings, structured observation on pitch, contribution to in-house coach professional development sessions, and the production of player profiles to inform bespoke training and match objectives. Stage 2: Maintaining professional and scientific integrity In the academy setting, there is a need for the practitioner to maintain a balance of being an accepted member of the support team while not being so immersed in academy culture that they cannot objectively and ethically comment on, or make contributions to, its development. For example, in one academy setting the strate~ gic positioning of the sport psychology office away from the main academy build- ing afforded the practitioner (Steptoe) this possibility and, in one-to-one sessionsIntegrated sport psychology 297 with the academy management team, discussions helped shape coherent messages regarding philosophy, standards, and expectations. Such dialogue represents the foundation of ethical psychology services within an interdisciplinary team, as deci- sions taken at the highest level of the academy structure permeate all levels of the player development framework ‘An important foundational agree constitutes good psychological performance in players (ie. how do sta this?). In Steptoe’s case, the predominant cognitive philosophy of the practitioner demanded a concomitant interest in the assessment and development of adaptive processes (ie. quality of thinking, decision making, problem solving, perception, and attention). In discussion with staff, however, it was accepted that evaluation of a player's psychological progression through specific support would ultimately be determined by behaviour change. nent that has to be established relates to what infer Stage 3: Ensuring behaviour change has backbone! ‘Where there is an understandable focus on the quality of player/athlete behaviour in coaching staff, interventions to assist cognitive-behavioural improvements need to be substantive and rigorous, Superficial, one-off pieces of work with single touch points reflective of less qualified practitioners and ill-informed coaches (e.g. the one-off motivational presentation) are unlikely to be the magic pill/cure. A request from coaches to Steptoe to input into the challenges a professional development team were having in ‘starting games well’ offers a great example in designing ‘what to do professionally’ versus ‘what coaches felt might do the trick’! A lack of concentration was considered by the coaches to be the main contrib- tating factor to conceding goals in the first 15 minutes in five out of the last six games and the coaches’ prior experiences of sport psychology (i.¢. less than qual- ified practitioner) had led to the request for a one-off workshop to address this issue! One-to-one sessions were also suggested with those players believed to be most culpable; however, the potential impact of such an intervention was anticipated by Steptoe to be minimal. In a session with the head and assistant coach, the current performance issue was considered, not in terms of the sum of individual aggregated performances, but instead by the continuous interactions between team members and the wider support staff (ie. how is performance preparation happening given all the resources available?).A system level task analysis was proposed that would reveal the co-operative interactions, bounded by unique spatial and temporal constraints, that were contributing to sub-optimal performance in the first 15 minutes of com- petitive matches (Ribeiro, Silva, Duarte, Davids, & Garganta, 2017) The team (players and coaching staff) were observed over a 5¥4-hour period, from meeting until the end of the first quarter of the game.The aim of the analysis was to focus solely on the specific performance issue and not to interpret acts through any theoretical lens. Instead key phases of team preparation were highlighted for their contribution to effective concentration and decision making; from which opportu- nities for meaningful intervention could be explored. Observations were fed back298 Chris G. Harwood and Karl Steptoe eamcecen "Ea oom Oring ting Opeing — oaer-Pore nog SS GRP ne SSP Reema | en eo rt seliton deer olka raya ® ropes tt "enie “She “immer Oncennes enforce corcentotan ond Soman fs deetan ang ough preparton ‘Stormin (above) ross on ross asta, ‘Gnarenes eocton tes. opproprate ao ay, ‘Spyveoboaat ond poser sporty FIGURE 26.4 System level task analysis — factors contributing to performance in first 15 minutes during a scheduled coach professional development meeting, and the presentation centred around a match-day timeline (see Figure 26.4) All match preparation and in-game tasks were recorded (including the con- cession of a goal within 3 minutes) and the significant environmental and group member interaction phases were highlighted, Subsequent discussion regarding the potential impact of the team coach journey, meeting room, dressing room, warm up (training focus) environments, and in-match communication upon poor starts to games revealed threats to optimum arousal, ole clarity, intrinsic motivation, reac~ tion time, and commitment to decision making, These phases were recognised by the coaches as areas in which they could positively influence psychological perfor- mance in order to enhance team concentration in the first 15 minutes of games (see ‘Table 26.1 for some key examples) In sum, this example of integrated work showcases the more proximal role of the practitioner working alongside coaches and players — more akin to a performance scientist enabling conceptually valid solutions to be considered based on authentic data, as opposed to single-session team building, Scheme 4: Creating a rational and resilient identity Aligned with Scheme 1 (motivation), two of the personal attributes that we believe sport challenges in aspiring athletes is their self-concept and identity (see Chapter 14 for details) When young athletes begin to invest themselves in a sport, their percep- tions of competence and self-identity can become narrowed and defined to their‘uoai8 wonetroguT jecononnsu 2oMUOYY seessour jo Aanuenb jue sumo Bepredar sured yo 2up tpww 01 LarsuuT uoneuUOT ‘poay pasadxoun woy deme 104s Sumo# wroy woud 3q 01 S194ENs 103 99upyuOr) soapta rear yo 9s pur unygy] or opeur soBueys afgo. wea) pu fenprarpur yp areas 01 sxoxeI prod urea: uo sisKeyd on waar 2q 01 stsdqeer ywattoddo pur soansafgo sokerd fenpeapuy unger Uuoystoop 04 arotennerato> poonpoy nse apdeyou Suso200d 10) paredasd 10N) auotmuonats xojduo9 19) uonesedaxd ayeudonddeuy nore syenidorddeny penore syeridonddeuy aqeuump jetoneanour ZuoRtos, SGurp 2[orgo eT aonysod ur uoyas wonsnnsur yseo ASysusyur uoneorununo:) spoay ausysis0> wos ys SINS uurdggg> wons9ps >1snpy SunyBq ovenbopeuy Mowsnostp tre92 02 3 sofeyd oN sontanze poulisse oN ‘wonesrnenuz0:) soheyg—ype03 Zwwooy Bussso3¢1 (nog Sunrex) 8p wim [soo a0 Zyseeg way, woo Sun99yq, or) WH, (aw uomcyup (om Sigans)onsss Bu iorasosge Aooy wu ueo) pue Supjetr worsHap 03 suoKNRUTIHOD souEyHD 03 stotTaAToVUE pure swe9N an0319d poursuopr yo oydutexo — sissjeue se oxo] WMS 192 FTSVL,300. Chris G. Harwood and Karl Steptoe achievement in competition, Self-concept can become fragile when it is based on irrational belief (¢.g. I'm a failure if I lose this match), a lack of recognition of per~ sonal strengths, and a unidimensional view of the young person behind the athlete. ‘With this in mind, a progressive exercise that practitioners might employ is to help athletes construct a holistic, rational, and resilient competitive identity through the process of a four-quadrant poster. This can also be a useful collaborative exercise with the support of the coach. Quadrant 1: Rules of engagement As sport situations can render irrational thinking in adolescent athletes (e.g, the ref= eree should make perfect decisions all the time), it is usefal to counter this potential challenge by preparing rational thinking and acceptance in advance (see Chapter 24), Athletes can be asked to create their ‘rules of engagement’ for competition based on collaborative discussion around questions such as ‘What are going to be the adversities and challenges that you accept that you may face in competition?’; “What choices do you want to make in the way that you behave with yourself and others?’ Such discussion stimulates thinking around rational and less rational beliefs, and challenges players to think more smartly about competition, For exam- ple, I know that to deal with adversity (e.g. poor line calls), I have to experience it’; "I will make brave decisions that “stretch” my level without fear of any mistakes that [ will make’ The athlete creates the rules of engagement that they sign up to so that there is no place for irrational beliefs to creep in when the going gets tough. Quadrant 2: Signature strengths In the next session, the athlete profiles their specific strengths from a technical, tac~ tical, physical, psychological, and team perspective. Discussion stems from questions posed by the practitioner, such as “What skills do you enjoy doing/executing most in competition that send a message to the opposition?” ‘What attributes can you depend on in a tough situation?" "What makes you a great teammate?” In tennis, for example, players have noted: an explosive forehand, exceptional reactions and ‘good hands’ at the net, positive communication with my partner at all times to keep our momentum, Quadrant 3: Mental kithag Akin to the process goals linked to the self-challenge of the CPM, the mental kitbag segment focuses discussion between the athlete and practitioner on the specific mental tools that the athlete could use in competition (pre and during performance). Stimulus questions might include: ‘What do you ing competition that helps you to optimise your strengths and meet your rules of engagement?” And, ‘What mental strategies pull it all together for you?’ This also allows for the process of self-awareness and gap analysis where the athlete recognises before or d