Data from: Exploring temporal patterning of psychological skills usage during the week leading up to competition: lessons for developing intervention programmes

Background and purpose: Although sport psychology literature focuses on
psychological skills use to promote proficiency, it is still puzzling that
current research has focused on psychological skills use only during
competition. There remains a scarcity of empirical evidence to support the
timing, and content of psychological skill application during the time
preceding competition. This study examined the extent to which
psychological skills usage are dynamic or stable over a 7-day
pre-competitive period and whether any natural learning experiences might
have accounted for the acquisition of these skills across gender and skill
level. Methods and results: Ninety elite and semi-elite table tennis
players completed the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) at three
different periods (7 days, 2 days, 1hour) before competition. A MANOVA
repeated measures with follow-up analyses revealed significant
multivariate main effects for only skill level and time-to-competition
with no interactions. Specifically, elite (international) athletes
reported more usage than semi-elite (national) counterparts for self-talk,
imagery and relaxation respectively. Time-to-competition effects showed
imagery use decreased steadily across the three time points while reported
usage of relaxation were almost at the same level on two time points (7
days and 1 hour) but decreased 2 days before competition. Conclusions:
Findings suggest an implementation of formalized and periodized
psychological skills training programs over continuous training cycles.
This may foster a positive long-term athletes' psychological state
prior to the onset of competition.