University of Groningen Performance behaviour in elite sports Blijlevens, Suzan

Performance behaviour in elite sports

Blijlevens, Suzan

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10.33612/diss.109492160

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Blijlevens, S. (2019). Performance behaviour in elite sports. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.109492160

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Chapter 7

General discussion


The objective of this dissertation was to provide insight in the psychological competencies that high-potential and world-class athletes require to deal with the challenges they face in different stages of their athletic career. To achieve that objective, the main focus was on athletes’ perceived challenges in different stages of their athletic career and what they need to successfully handle them from a holistic perspective. The in-depth knowledge obtained through this dissertation about the requisite psychological competencies will help coaches in preparing their high-potential athletes to deal more effectively with

developmental challenges, to maximize their chances of achieving elite level and to achieve maximum performance at the highest level.

This dissertation showed that high-potential and elite athletes in different stages of their athletic career are confronted with partly similar and partly different challenges in the multiple developmental domains of the HAC model (Wylleman & Rosier, 2016). As a consequence, the need and importance of the possession of specific psychological competencies changes throughout the athletic career.

The importance of a stage-specific approach

The results of this dissertation stress the need and importance of a stage-specific approach to the development of psychological competencies in talent

development and elite performance. Earlier studies generally mostly assumed a certain set of psychological characteristics and skills that characterise

‘superchamps’ and would therefore already be required by high-potential athletes throughout their entire athletic career to achieve world-class level (e.g. Gould, Diffenbach & Moffet, 2002), but they failed to give a comprehensive picture of what is required along the pathway (Collins, MacNamara & McCarthy, 2016). Focussing on the developmental challenges in different stages of athletic development, this dissertation was able to identify that the need for and importance of psychological competencies changes during the stages. This confirms that the fit between individual characteristics and the environment changes during different stages of an individual’s development (Eccles &

Midgley, 1989). This fit may further be influenced by the task an athlete needs to perform (Elferink-Gemser & Visscher, 2012) – a task which is, for example,

different for a young high-potential athlete who recently entered a structured talent program than for a world-class athlete preparing for the Olympic Games, or during different phases of a cultural transition as shown in Chapter 4. At the same time, some of the perceived challenges characteristic for elite sports and/ or related to other task characteristics of a specific sport were also identified. For example, due to the amount of time high-potential and elite athletes invest in their athletic development, they experience challenges in combining their athletic career with school, work or social activities. Learning more difficult and frightening elements is a specific challenge for gymnasts, while adopting to the higher throwing speed is a challenge related to task characteristics of baseball. As a result, several psychological competencies related to ‘maximising your potential’ remain important throughout the athletic career.

Despite major differences in characteristics between the three sports under study in this dissertation (e.g. individual versus team sports, early versus late specialisation), the challenges athletes perceive and the competencies they require to handle these challenges are related to their stage of development. Even athletes’ ages seem to play a subordinate role: while the gymnasts in the mastery stage (cf. Chapter 2 and 3) had a mean age of 21.6 years old (SD = 2.7) and the beach volleyball players who were in the mastery stage (cf. Chapter 5) had a mean age of 28.3 years old (SD = 5.1), both reported challenges of the same nature and mentioned the use of similar competencies to handle them. This is also supported by recent study by aiming to (1) understand the perceived challenges Dutch beach volleyball players experience in different stages of athletic development and (2) delineate the psychological competencies Dutch beach volleyball players perceive to need to progress in their athletic

development and achieving high performance (Blijlevens, Wylleman, Bool, Visscher & Elferink-Gemser, manuscript in preparation). Although the beach volleyball players in their study were older than the female gymnasts in Chapter 3, their perceived challenges and required psychological competencies show large overlap with challenges and competencies of Dutch female gymnasts in corresponding stages of development. So, the demands of the developmental stage the athlete is in seems to be leading in the challenges athletes’ perceive

and the competencies they require to deal with challenges, over the athlete’s age and/or task characteristics.

A stage-specific approach is further necessary to direct attention to what athletes need to deal with their perceived challenges and how to prepare them for what is awaiting them in the near future. Combined with a holistic

perspective, it helps to address a full and comprehensive picture of the athlete’s full pathway (i.e. cater the full range of holistic challenges, competencies and contexts). For that reason, it is essential that those responsible for athletes’ development (1) have in-depth insight in the challenges that athletes perceive throughout their athletic career to determine which psychological competencies athletes require and (2) have an analysis and planning when and how they can stimulate and develop those competencies in their athletes. Starting with the examination of the challenges and competencies of elite athletes in the mastery stage of their athletic career, provides a blueprint of what is required at the highest level. Combining this blueprint with a perspective on the challenges that are awaiting in the near future, offers information of the competencies that should be mastered by high-potential athletes in the long term. It can then be proactively planned and managed at what point in the athletic career high-potential should master specific psychological competencies in order to achieve the ‘end profile’. This can be of help for coaches working with high-potential athletes to direct their attention to enhancing specific competencies. As noted earlier within this dissertation, challenges provide opportunities to develop psychological competencies and it is therefore suggested not to take away all challenges. The challenges throughout the athletic career can be used to speed up the development of athletes’ psychological competencies (e.g. Adomssent et al., 2007; Bool, 2018; Rychen, 2003).

Applying a stage-specific approach might give the impression that it is crystal clear when and for how long an athlete is in a specific stage of development. However, these delineations are not always that clear. The duration of each stage of the HAC model may differ per sport and per athlete as well as per domain of development (e.g., psychological, academic) (Wylleman & Rosier, 2016).

Generally, the stages in the athletic development (e.g., initiation, development and mastery stages) are used as basis. In the case of Dutch female gymnasts, the initiation stage and development stage both have been conceptualised by coaches as taking three years, whereas they enter the mastery stage at age of seventeen and takes much longer (cf. Chapter 2 and 3). In contrast, the age of peak performance beach volleyball players is around the age of thirty years (Longo, Siffredi, Cardey, Aquilino & Lentini, 2016). Consequently, Dutch beach volleyball players have more time to get to the top with the stages being spread over a longer period. As a result, the duration of the stages is longer.

Furthermore, individual athletes might go through the stages slower or faster than others. It therefore remains important to be aware of the development of an individual athlete within a specific sport to determine the stage he is in.

The practical value of a competency perspective on psychological

factors in talent development and elite sports

There are different ways of defining psychological factors in talent development and elite performance, which has led to ambiguity of what is meant by

psychological factors (Dohme, Backhouse, Piggott & Morgan, 2017). This dissertation started with the identification of psychological characteristics and

skills of Dutch female gymnasts (cf. Chapter 3). The later chapters (cf. Chapter 4

to 6) identified the psychological competencies required by high-potential and elite beach volleyball and baseball players. In first instance, Dohme and colleagues’ (2017) suggestions were followed to use psychological

characteristics and skills as meaningful clusters for psychological factors. As explained in Chapter 3, athletes need more than just psychological skills (corresponding to their psychological characteristics) in order to show

performance behaviour (i.e. they also need specific knowledge and attitudes). Reflecting on both perspectives, this dissertation shows the practical value of approaching psychological factors in talent development and elite performance as psychological competencies. This has both scientific as practical implications. While psychological characteristics are defined as pre-dispositioned, fairly stable traits that strongly impact upon the successful development of athletes (Dohme

et al., 2017), psychological competencies can be learned and evaluated (e.g., Ledoux et al., 2013; Villa, 2008). Dohme and colleagues (2017) stated that social and contextual influences may impact the development of psychological characteristics. They further mentioned that psychological skills (which need to be taught and practiced) are used to regulate or enhance psychological

characteristics either directly or over time. This sounds contradictory. A trait is a characteristic of someone’s personality (Colman, 2008; Reber, 1995). Speaking about fairly stable traits entails the believe that either you have it, or not. However, athletes in this dissertation reflected on how they handled difficulties in the past and how they currently did, and they noticed a change in their behaviour because of the competencies they acquired. Considering that talent development is about maximising the chances that high-potential athletes actually achieve elite level of performance, it is important that coaches recognise the ability to develop psychological competencies within high-potential athletes rather than seeing their athletes in terms of pre-disposed psychological characteristics. Having this assumption will influence the way how coaches work and the effort they put in stimulating and developing

psychological competencies within their athletes.

One of the reasons why a competency perspective is of practical value, is the strong focus on athlete’s behaviour in concrete situations. Competencies are based on action in order to respond successfully to a demand or purpose and linked to a specific context (Villa, 2008). The question is thus whether the athlete is able to show behaviour to effectively handle the demands in a specific

situation, in order to maximise his potential and deliver optimal performance. Earlier research mainly focussed on athletes’ psychological characteristics (i.e. traits) and personality. An athlete’s personality obviously influences his typical responses and role-related behaviour in various situations (Weinberg & Gould, 2018). Typical responses are the ways we each learn to adjust to the

environment or how we usually respond to the world around us. How you act based on what you perceive your social situation to be is called role-related behaviour (Weinberg & Gould, 2018). Typical responses and role-related behaviour are dynamic and changeable, and can therefore be influenced

through training. From an applied perspective, focussing on psychological competencies, instead of psychological characteristics, gives coaches insight in athletes’ typical responses and role-related behaviours. The benefits of this approach to athletes’ performance behaviour is (1) that it directs coaches’ attention to what they can observe, change and develop and (2) that coaches acknowledge that the development of an athlete’s performance behaviour is not confined to the impact of sport psychologists or counsellors.

Further, looking at an athlete’s behaviour from a competency perspective leads to insight in why an athlete does what he does and what he needs to acquire (e.g. knowledge, skills and/or attitudes) in order to develop and show specific performance behaviour. A competency perspective focusses on how someone mobilizes and integrates the requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes, and demonstrates it in his behaviour (Ledoux et al., 2013; Villa, 2008). Chapter 5 identified that both world-class and competitive elite beach volleyball players have the declarative knowledge about what they should do to deal with developmental challenges. However, after an in-depth study of what they actually reported to do in such situations, it was concluded that in contrast to competitive elite players, only world-class elite players reported the procedural knowledge about how they should handle the challenges. World-class elite players reported the use of skills and attitudes that are required to actually demonstrate the required effective behaviour. This way of analysing an athlete’s behaviour provides valuable information for coaches as it allows them to work on what is required: transfer of knowledge, training skills and/or enhancing attitudes. This was also shown in recent research on other domains of the HAC model (e.g. De Brandt et al., 2018; De Brandt, Wylleman, Torregrossa, Defruyt & Van Rossem, 2017). For example, the use of a competency perspective led to more tailor-made support of dual career athletes as it directed attention to what an athlete really needs to develop in order to deal with the challenges of a dual career (Defruyt et al., 2019).

Finally, a competency perspective provides the opportunity to specify the application of general competencies within a specific sport (Bezanilla et al.,

2014). As shown, gymnasts, beach volleyball and baseball players reported to use similar competencies to deal with challenges of a same nature. However, how the general competencies are applied in a specific situation differs per sport. To optimally utilise their competencies within their specific sport, athletes might require sport-specific knowledge, skills and/or attitudes. Because a competency entails the possession of knowledge, skills and attitudes, a

competency perspective offers a way of describing sport-specific requirements that are necessary within a specific context (e.g., the field, gym or pitch). Taking a competency perspective has also implications for future research. Researchers studying the psychological factors determining successful talent development or elite performance are recommended to focus on psychological competencies. Instead of focussing on the predictive value of specific

psychological characteristics for later success, it is recommended to direct their research to (1) how these psychological competencies develop over time and (2) how and by whom these psychological competencies can be developed within the coach’s daily activities with athletes. For example, research could ideally focus on whether there is an equal distribution in athlete’s knowledge, skills and attitudes or whether athletes especially require knowledge, skills or a helpful attitude in order to show respond to a specific demand or challenge. Further, as coaches report a lack of confidence and knowledge as barriers in developing psychological competencies (Callow, Roberts, Bringer, & Langan, 2010; Paquette & Sullivan, 2012), there is a need for studies investigating how coaches can be taught to coach psychological competencies (e.g. what is an appropriate way to integrate this within coach education programmes?) and studies on the

effectiveness of coaches coaching psychological competencies as part of their daily coaching activities and the challenges they experience in doing so.

The benefits of applying a qualitative approach

As pointed out in the introduction, a qualitative approach was chosen because it was considered appropriate to answer this dissertation’s research questions. As noted earlier, this dissertation aimed to contribute to science for sports instead of science of and through sport. Reflecting on the practical output of this

dissertation, the current approach and methodology is seen as an opportunity to bridge the gap between science and practice. Based on their systematic review of the study of behaviour in sport and exercise literature, Meredith and colleagues (2018) suggest that the gap between research and applied practice may be widening due to a decrease of behavioural measures (Baumeister, Vohs & Funder, 2007; Dhami, Hertwig & Hoffrage, 2004; Patterson, 2008). As applying a qualitative approach allows researchers to actively collaborate with athletes and coaches and in doing so, the distance between scientific research and applied practice can be diminished. Because both athletes and coaches actively participated in this doctoral study, this has led to high commitment of coaches and sport federations to implement the results of this dissertation. For example, the Volleyball Federation of the Netherlands (NEVOBO) asked the Dutch Olympic Team (NOC*NSF) to collaborate with the development of a handbook for

coaches containing beach volleyball specific exercises that aims to develop psychological competencies. Based on this dissertation, the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation (KNGU) prioritised the psychological competencies throughout different stages of a female gymnasts’ athletic career. Further, in collaboration with NOC*NSF, they are educating their coaches in developing gymnasts’ psychological competencies as part of their day-to-day interactions with athletes (e.g. through workshops, observation sessions). In this way, this dissertation contributed to science for sport instead of science of or through sport (Collins & Kamin, 2012).

The use of several strategies suggested to work rigorously in and opportunities to generalise the results of qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology (e.g., Smith, 2018; Smith & McGannon, 2018), contributed to bridge the gap between scientists and practitioners. For example, member reflections were used instead of member checking. One aim of member reflections is to generate additional data and insight. It further is seen as a practical opportunity to acknowledge and/or explore with participants the existence of contradictions and differences in knowing (Smith & McGannon, 2018). By letting the

participants engage in the process of data analysis, the researchers gave them the feeling that their experiences mattered and that they are the experts. This

was useful because it helped to build rapport and therefore stimulated the openness and honesty of the participants, but also to create commitment to work with the practical output of the research project. So, besides the scientific value of this dissertation’s methodology to do rigorous qualitative research, it was meaningful for applied practice. That was important as this dissertation is the result of collaboration between two universities and the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF). The reflections shared above stress the importance of choosing an approach and methodology that fits the researcher’s beliefs and the aim of the entire research project.

Limitations and directions for future research

Along with the scientific and practical yields of this dissertation as described above, some caution is required when interpreting the results. Following the stage-environment fit models (e.g. Eccles & Midgley, 1989; Elferink-Gemser & Visscher, 2012), it needs to be recognised that the perceived challenges athletes reported within this dissertation are a result of the interplay between

characteristics of the task, environment and the athlete. For example, the challenges perceived by Dutch female gymnasts may, besides the gymnasts’ stage of development, be a result of environmental characteristics. Their challenges may be a result of the way competition is set up and structure of the Dutch talent program. High-potential and elite gymnasts train about thirty hours a week, but only perform in approximately eight matches a year. They train at one of the seven elite training locations across the Netherlands and come together with the Dutch National team for a central training weekend every month. All athletes bring their own coaches and work with their own coach during this weekend. These aspects have impact on the challenges gymnasts experience. From a broader perspective, the international rules of the sport as set by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) influences the demands Dutch female gymnasts need to handle. For example, recent changes in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Code of Points (FIG, 2016) and rules

concerning the team composition on international tournaments set by the FIG has implications on the task characteristics for Dutch gymnasts. This is reflected in the way gymnasts build up their exercise (in D-score and E-score) and

subsequently to the way they train (i.e. training on specialising on one apparatus or becoming more round) to be qualified for major tournaments (e.g. all-round to qualify as part of the team versus specialising for individual

qualification). Considering the above, as the task or environmental demands change, it influences athletes’ perceived challenges. When interpreting or discussing the generalizability of the current results, the reader needs to take into account the environmental and tasks characteristics as described within this dissertation (Smith, 2018).

Athletes’ perceptions of their own behaviour, challenges and psychological competencies were studied using in-depth interviews. As this entails perceived challenges and self-reported behaviour no conclusions can be drawn with regard to athletes’ actual behaviour when confronted with challenges or whether they actual possess the competencies they reported. In order to increase insight into athletes’ actual behaviour, a coaching tool was developed (see Chapter 6) allowing coaches to observe athletes’ actual behaviour. This coaching tool, for example supported by the use of video, enables coaches to reflect on the possible discrepancy between what athletes actual do and what they think they do. In this way coaches are stimulated to discuss the relation between the athlete’s specific behaviour and cognitive processes with their athletes.

Throughout this dissertation a cross-sectional design was used to gain insight in what is challenging and which psychological competencies are required. Only in Chapter 4 we used baseball players’ retrospective accounts of going through a cultural transition. When using retrospective recall, respondents are likely to recall only a small number of vivid experiences that may, but also may not, be genuinely representative of their developmental trajectory (Brown & Kulik, 1977). The recall of these vivid memories is also liable to be influenced by implicitly aggregating many years of accumulated experience as well as an integration of current attitudes and behaviours (Côte, Ericsson & Law, 2005). As such, the athlete’s eventual success will undoubtedly colour his or her

even more of a factor for athletes still involved in the sport (Collins, MacNamara, Cruickshank, 2019). Furthermore, retrospectively interviewing athletes who are currently successful at the highest level in senior competition, or who

successfully went through a cultural transition, would have provided

information about what was important years ago. As for example the support provision, athletes’ professionality, the way competition is set up, and the organisation of talent programmes have changed over time, knowledge on what was required back then will differ from what is required today.

However, in order to draw conclusions on how athletes’ performance behaviour developed throughout their athletic career in relation to the challenges they experienced, a longitudinal research design should have been adopted (Elferink-Gemser et al., 2011; 2018). Furthermore, the present dissertation does not provide insight in whether athletes already developed these competencies, nor does it give information about how effectively athletes used their competencies to handle the developmental challenges. It further remains unanswered whether the participating high-potential athletes will actually achieve world-class level. To explore the development of athletes’ performance behaviour and monitor what actually contributes to becoming an elite athlete in terms of behaviour, it would be good if future research would use a longitudinal design in combination with mixed methods allowing to acquire rich qualitative data in combination with quantitative approaches that enable future generalizable action, in order to draw conclusions on in-depth individual differences and experiences (e.g. Barlow & Nock, 2009; Collins et al., 2019; Meredith, Dicks, Noel, & Wagstaff, 2018). As such, the competency framework developed within this dissertation can be reviewed and refined by, crucially, using a combination of research and in-the-field experience with athletes and those responsible for the athletes’ development. In this way, future research could for example investigate the applicability of the developed competency framework for other sports and Paralympic sports.

Chapter 5 concluded that in order to enhance the performance behaviour of high-potential and elite athletes, coaches should not only focus on teaching

them declarative knowledge, but especially on enhancing the procedural knowledge about how to act. Pro-active behaviour and a hands-on attitude when confronted with challenge were further identified as discriminative for levels of performance. Different strategies should therefore be used to teach knowledge (both declarative and procedural), to develop skills or to change athletes’ attitudes (Vogel & Wanke, 2016). The elite sport context provides numerous opportunities to enhance competencies. For example, it was recommended that athletes should be given the opportunity of dealing with appropriate and progressively demanding stressors and should be encouraged to engage with these challenges, using debriefs to aid reflection and learning (Collins et al., 2019; Sarkar, Fletcher, & Brown, 2015). However, more research is required on how coaches should do this and on the possible effects on the development of athletes’ performance behaviour. Future research should focus on the strategies that can be used by coaches to enhance athletes’ psychological competencies within their daily practices. This should be done within athletes’ daily practices, because the transfer of psychological competencies learned outside the actual context is very low (Burns, Cumming, Cooley, Holland & Beech, 2017). Using mixed methods, research is currently conducted on the use of planned disruptions (i.e. relatively small and deliberate activities, designed to expose athletes to increased pressure under controlled conditions) in order to increase athletes’ resilience (Kegelaers & Wylleman, 2018; Kegelaers, Wylleman & Oudejans, 2019). Given the complex and multifaceted nature of performance behaviour, future research should use mixed methods to both examine the quantitative effects and qualitative experiences of athletes and coaches in the development of performance behaviour, whether it fits the research question at hand.

Practical implications of this dissertation

This dissertation revealed a number of recommendations for those responsible for athletes’ development (e.g. coaches, sport psychologists and other support staff). To start, coaches and other people involved in the development of high-potential and elite athletes need to adapt a holistic perspective when looking at athletes’ athletic development. The results of this dissertation showed that

athletes experience various challenges at different domains of development (e.g. psychological, psychosocial, educational and vocational). To realise their full athletic potential and to prevent athletes from mental struggles and stagnation in their development (Alfermann & Stambulova, 2007), athletes need to

successfully overcome challenges in all domains of development. Coaches and those responsible for athlete’s development therefore need to look at athlete’s career development from a holistic perspective.

A second recommendation is that coaches need to stimulate and train the development of psychological competencies that their athletes require in the nearest future and to achieve high performance. The results of this dissertation indicate that knowing what challenges are awaiting athletes, helps to identify the psychological competencies they require to successfully overcome the hurdles of their athletic career. Coaches take up a central role in athletes’ psychological development through their day-to-day interactions (Gould et al., 2002; Bool, 2018; Wylleman, Rosier, De Brandt, & De Knop, 2016). Coaches therefore need to be aware of their responsibility and direct their attention to developing those psychological competencies. This needs to be done through interactions during daily activities with their athletes. To make the most of it, other staff members need to work in the same way on developing those competencies within their athletes.

Considering coaches’ qualitative feedback and the challenges they reported in working with the Performance Behaviour Coaching Tool (cf. Chapter 6), this dissertation makes clear that coaches also need to develop themselves in enhancing athletes’ psychological competencies. A third recommendation is that coaches need to develop their own competencies of teaching, developing and stimulating psychological competencies within their athletes, so that their athletes are able to use them in an appropriate way when confronted with challenges.

Furthermore, based on the findings of this dissertation, several practical implications can be formulated for coaches and those responsible for athletes’ development (e.g. sport psychologists, teachers and other support staff).

•

are developing themselves throughout their athletic career. Athletes in the initiation stage share more general challenges and experience several specific and very personal challenges. In the development stage, the distribution of common and personal challenges becomes fairly equal, while athletes in the mastery stage especially experience very specific and personal challenges and to a lesser extent reported common challenges. As a result, the psychological support of younger athletes can be focused on developing more general and shared competencies, related to maximising their athletic potential. For example, ability to persevere, staying focused, setting and working on goals and being able to focus on taking small steps. In the development stage, coaches can still focus on strengthening some generic and common competencies, but they also need to be aware of the individual challenges and required competencies. The focus should still be on competencies related to maximising their potential, but coaches additionally need to stimulate competencies athletes need to optimally work with their environment (e.g. effective communication, decision making, problem solving, planning). Coaches working with athletes in the mastery stage need to enhance athletes’ competencies related to maximising their potential, optimally working with their environment and being able to deliver high performance. As a result of the specificity of their challenges, their psychological support should be more tailor-made.

•

of a sport-specific learning line is that coaches have an overall picture of which psychological competencies are required at what moment in the athletic career. An example of a sport-specific learning pathway for female gymnasts, developed in collaboration with the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation, is shown in Figure 7.1. The in-depth interviews used within this dissertation provide a practical way to examine athletes’ perceived

experts (e.g. a sport or developmental psychologist) can discuss the questions mentioned above to create a sport-specific learning line.

Figure 7.1. Example of the sport-specific learning pathway for Dutch female gymnasts . 3

The arrows (level 3) in the visual representation of the sport-specific learning line stop at a

3

specific age. It should be noted that the athlete’s psychological development of course does not stop at a specific age. It is just being used to indicate at what point within the athletic career athletes should require level 3 of a specific competency.

•

example of the practical output of this dissertation is the coaching tool developed in Chapter 6. Coaches can systematically use the coaching tool within their daily practices to assess, set goals and monitor the development of athletes’ performance behaviour.

Conclusion

To conclude, this dissertation yielded qualitative insight in the challenges athletes face, the psychological competencies they require and how these can be assessed. From a holistic perspective, it focused on different stages and multiple developmental domains throughout the athletic career. The results showed that high-potential and elite athletes in different stages of their athletic career are confronted with partly similar and partly different challenges in different stages of athletic development. As a consequence, the need and importance of the possession of specific psychological competencies changes throughout the athletic career. The results of this dissertation stress the need and importance of a stage-specific approach to the development of

psychological competencies in talent development and elite performance. Furthermore, using a competency perspective (which integrates knowledge, skills and attitudes) is of great practical value for coaches and those responsible for athletes’ development. They are therefore recommended to stimulate the development of psychological competencies that athletes require to deal with the challenges of the entire athletic career, both that are awaiting them in the near future and eventually to continuously achieve the highest levels of performance.

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