NU Scholarly Work (Restricted)
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This collection contains access-restricted scholarly work from National University faculty and staff. .
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Item Exploring Perfectionist Athletes' Perceptions and Application of their Coach's Feedback(2008) Del Nostro, CynthiaDespite a wealth of research on perfectionism in sport, there has been very little research looking at the actual experience of the perfectionist athlete themselves. This experience is especially important when looking at how they use feedback from others, particularly their coaches, whose main job is to provide that very feedback. A study was designed employing Grounded Theory to look at how perfectionist athletes view and apply the feedback they receive from their coaches. The participants were three self-identified perfectionist current and former athletes from multiple sports and three coaches who have coached perfectionist athletes. The perfectionist athlete's continual evaluation was found to be the central phenomenon. Other themes that were found were that the athlete evaluates the coach to determine their ability to give them helpful feedback; the athlete evaluates the feedback to determine whether it would be useful to them; the athlete evaluates the overall situation to determine its potential outcome; the athletes often have an extreme emotional and physical reaction to the feedback; that there is always a specific outcome of the feedback; and that there are specific components to feedback that are important for the perfectionist athlete to be able to employ them. It was determined that perfectionist athletes employ a constant evaluation process when receiving feedback from their coach. The awareness of this process will enable coaches to be able to give perfectionist athletes more effective feedback and lead to less frustration and more enjoyment for both coach and athlete.Item Exploring the need for a mental champion training manual for junior tennis players(2009) Rivers, Kristen WaughThe purpose of this study is to determine if a mental skills workbook would be beneficial to help competitive junior tennis players learn mental skills. The target audiences for such a workbook are the players themselves and their support system, which includes the parents and coaches. Participants in the current study were chosen to provide a diverse perspective on the topic and included two parents, two junior tennis players, three coaches and three professionals. They ranged in age from 14-46 years old. Each participant answered questions from a semi structured interview format. The qualitative research methodology of content analysis was used to analyze the results from the interviews. Preliminary data strongly suggests that the participants believe competitive junior tennis players need to become mentally tough to achieve success. Other research collected established the five main qualities a Mental Champion tennis player needs to possess in order to be successful. These five qualities included staying focused, possessing a will to win, controlling emotions, and overcoming adversity in all types of situations. Future considerations beyond this study could include exposing junior players to a Mental Champion Training Manual (MCTM) and then monitoring before and after success rates on and off the court. Other considerations could involve helping juniors identify immediate mental needs which parents and coaches can work together to provide the support needed for a balanced and happy tennis experience.Item Exploring the Meaning of the Components on the Psychophysical Energy Level Questionnaire Via Content Analysis(2006) Kennamore, WilliamThe purpose of this study was to investigate the source of the responses to the original 50- questions posed in the Psychophysical Energy Level Questionnaire. The original questionnaire was designed to identify the effects of the dynamics of human condition, life's environmental factors and the foundations of an exercise or workout routine; which when not adhered to can cause a "distortion of view" in individual's perceptions and attitudes about exercising or working out. The focus of this study was to determine whether in the original questions the correlation to exercise or working out as perceived by participants was concise, clear and complete enough to provide information for understanding an individual's lack of effort to start or maintain his/her routine. Fourteen adults, six males, (two Blacks, one Asian and three Whites) and eight females (one Black, one mixed Asian and Black, one Asian and five Whites) between the ages of 25 and 65 years participated. The Likert scale responses, "never /seldom / sometimes / often / always" were removed from the questionnaire and each participant was handed one-by-one the 50- questions placed on 5x8 cards. They were asked for their own answer; for example, "can you tell me how you respond to these questions?" and "When asked this question, how would you respond to it?" The purpose of asking participants these questions was to understand the meaning of the various responses from the perspective of the participant. All responses that were similar were counted and grouped. Four analyses were conducted and the responses were sorted into groups according to the patterns and themes that emerged. Each participant's responses were examined for the range of interpretations and meanings that they placed on the items, thus creating a map of the most common parameters of each item as in the original questionnaire. The analysis confirmed that the experiences of each participant's effort as well as what a routine provided were two important outcomes that were interpreted from this study.