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.研究背景与目的：尽管运动心理学领域的现有文献多聚焦于用于提升竞技水平的心理技能应用，但当前研究仅关注竞赛期间的心理技能使用，这一现状仍令人困惑。目前仍缺乏实证证据，用以阐明竞赛前阶段心理技能应用的时机与内容。本研究旨在探究：赛前7天周期内，运动员的心理技能使用模式究竟是动态变化还是保持稳定；同时验证不同性别与竞技水平的运动员，是否可通过自然学习经验习得此类心理技能。 研究方法与结果：90名精英与半精英级别的乒乓球运动员，分别在赛前三个时间节点（赛前7天、赛前2天、赛前1小时）完成了竞技策略量表（Test of Performance Strategies, TOPS）的施测。采用带后续分析的重复测量多元方差分析（MANOVA），结果显示仅竞技水平与赛前时长两个因素存在显著的多变量主效应，二者无交互作用。具体而言，精英（国际级）运动员在自我谈话、心理表象与放松训练三类技能的使用频率上，均显著高于半精英（国家级）运动员。赛前时长因素的效应显示：心理表象的使用频率随三个时间节点稳步下降；而放松训练的使用频率在赛前7天与赛前1小时两个节点基本持平，但在赛前2天时出现明显下降。 研究结论：本研究结果提示，应在持续的训练周期中推行规范化、周期化的心理技能训练方案，这有助于在赛事开赛之前，为运动员营造积极的长期心理状态。