A reconceptualisation of experience in sport and its relationship with competitive anxiety

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Author
Cropley, Brendan
Date
2003Type
Thesis
Publisher
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The purpose of the research question for the current study was twofold. Firstly, the
notion of experience in sport was to be reconceptualised by generating a more holistic
definition and a set of characteristics thought to be possessed by the experienced
performer. Secondly, the study attempted to identiff how and why experience effects
the interpretation of competitive symptoms associated with anxiety. To answer the
research question a triangulation of methods were employed. An initial focus group,
consisting of three participants, selected using purposive sampling techniques was
conducted to elicit information concerning the definition of experience, as well as
generating an initial body of information on the phenomenon of experience in sport.
Follow-up individual interviews were then conducted with six elite athletes averaging
4.8 ± 1 years of senior international experience. Combined conversational and
standardised open-ended interviews, lasting between 60 and 90 minutes, were utilised
to provide support for the previously constructed definition and to examine how the
participants learned from both positive and negative critical incidents in attempts to
better interpret and control competitive symptoms. A combination of inductive and
deductive content analysis procedures revealed that each temporal phase of the
critical incidents were causally linked, allowing the data to be presented via causal
networks. Subsequent composite sequence analysis was then conducted to summarise
networks for both the positive and negative incidents. The resulting definition
encapsulated a process of exposure, reflection and learning, while the 14
characteristics covered both personal and situational elements. Findings from the
individual interviews indicated distinctions between the effects of positive and
negative experiences on subsequent appraisal of competitive symptoms, as well as
higruighting the necessity of reflective practice in the generation of knowledge
concerning competitive symptoms. The findings present some new and potentially
important implications for athletes, coaches and sport psychologists alike.
Description
MSc Sport and Exercise Science
Collections
- Masters Degrees (Sport) [168]
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