Dr.Sc.Psych., Professor E.A. Petrova¹
Dr.Hab., Associate Professor A.S. Makhov¹
PhD D.V. Savchenko¹
PhD, Associate Professor M.A. Kovaleva^1
1Russian State Social University, Moscow

Keywords: mental and emotional conditions, Paralympians, training and competitive performance, physical rehabilitation.

Background. It is the accessibility of adaptive sports in the modern world that often determines the opportunities for the disabled people’s psychological, social and physical rehabilitation. Sport accomplishments, teamwork, team spirit and travels to and from the competitions help integrate the disabled people in society. Moreover, we should not underestimate social feedback from the Paralympic sport competitors and their contribution to the efforts to change traditional social perceptions of health-deficient people as defective in some aspects. In modern psychology increasing priority is being given to the problems in the Paralympic sports and Paralympians’ training systems [1; 3; 6]. However, the Paralympians’ mental conditioning systems are still underexplored in every specific aspect and the shortage of adequate and complete data largely constrains practices of sport psychologists serving Paralympians.

Objective of the study was to offer practical recommendations to facilitate the psychological support service to Paralympians.

Methods and structure of the study. Subject to the study were 18 Paralympians of the Russian track-and-field national team including top-ranking competitors in long jumps, shot put and javelin throwing events, including 15 athletes with musculoskeletal disorders and 3 intellectually deficient athletes; plus 10 coaches training these athletes. The study was performed in April 2016 in Sochi when the athletes were trained for the Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The study was based on two questionnaire survey forms designed by the authors to analyse the key aspects of the pre-Paralympic training (by coaches’ questionnaire survey form) and a variety of aspects of the mental and emotional conditions experienced by the athletes prior to and during the competitions. The study data were processed by the standard tools of descriptive statistics followed by a correlation analysis including the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Study results and discussion. The study data and analyses demonstrated that most of the subject Paralympians (83.3%) attain due mental precompetitive condition with the prestart fever, apathy and fears of opponents being largely and effectively suppressed (r = -0.542, p = 0.02). This finding gives the grounds to state that the due prestart mental condition is highly important for success of a Paralympian and, consequently, every action and service of the coaches and sport psychologists serving the Paralympians need to be designed and spearheaded to help the athletes achieve this highly effective mental condition.

Furthermore, the due pre-competitive mental set in 88.9% of the subjects was found to include the right perception of own current mastery level. The study data showed this feeling being crucial when coping with the prestart apathy and fear of opponent (r = -0.686, p = 0.002) and, therefore, due priority is to be given to the training tools geared to form the right perception of own current mastery level for success of the Paralympians.

The right perception of own anxiety and other emotional conditions during competitions was also found to correlate with prestart fever, apathy and fears of opponents (r = 0.542, p = 0.02). It was further found that the more efforts an athlete takes to precisely rate his/her anxiety level the more he/she is exposed to the above emotional conditions and the lower is his/her precompetitive fitness (r = -0.791, p = 0.002). It was also found that the athletes who normally avoid indulging in analyses of their anxiety levels seldom face relevant problems. Therefore, we recommend sport psychologists keeping the athletes’ attention away from analysing and rating their emotions during competitions.

It should also be mentioned that the athletes prone to precisely rate their emotional conditions are prone to negative attitudes to fatigue-overcoming training (r = -0.670, p = 0.002) and normally stop training as soon as the actual condition requires (r = 0.561, p = 0.016). However, most of successful athletes in the study sample (77.8%) showed positive attitudes to the fatigue-overcoming training tools since such training, in their opinions, helps shape up the necessary volitional qualities. It should be noted that this opinion is mostly shared by some researchers who do believe that the fatigue-overcoming training sessions facilitate the mental balance and self-control building process (2, 3, 6).

Competitive success rates of the study sample in the top-ranking events were found equally correlating with the reported increased excitation (50%) and zero excitation (50%) levels that may be interpreted as their dependence on the respondents’ individual/ personality qualities.

Individual attitudes to defeats were found widely variable in the study sample, with 27.8% of the respondents reporting high suffering levels; 22.2% almost indifferent to them; and 11.1% saying they forget them very soon. However, most of the subjects (38.9%) reported their feeling upset about the defeat depending on how strong the winner was, i.e. the stronger was the opponent the less was their reported frustration after the defeat. It should also be noted that the subject athletes reported their sport careers being focused exclusively on competitive success (r = 0.523, p = 0.026). It might well be that their fair ratings of their own and the opponent’s competitive potentials were geared to build up their mental defences against a possible defeat.

Furthermore, it may be pertinent to emphasise that most of successful Paralympians under the study were ranked with the human type normally spurred up by the watching crowd both in competitions and during training sessions, as 50% of the sample reported feeling comfortable in presence of spectators; 33.3% reported a slight excitement that normally motivates them for success; and 16.7% said they feel much more comfortable with spectators. We believe that this motivator may be ranked as highly important for success of Paralympians in view of the fact that health-deficient people are more often than not tend to shy away from public attention albeit competitive activity implies high degrees of public involvement and recognition. Therefore, the ability to perform to one’s best in presence of spectators during training sessions will undoubtedly be considered an advantage in real competitions as verified by our study data and analyses.

Let us make a special emphasis on distracting factors in a training process. About half of the subjects considered them necessary for they reportedly help improve the concentration and self-control abilities; whilst 44% of the respondents believed they are harmful for performance since they draw attention away from the process; and the rest of the subjects were uncertain on the matter. In view of the fact that we found no significant correlations of these responses with other questions, we may assume that the personal attitudes to distracting factors in the training process may be determined by the individual/ personality traits and, possibly, personal experiences of the athletes.

Every athlete in the sample ranked his/ her individual competitive successes as important accomplishments, with half of the sample rating their successes high and the other half as ordinary accomplishments. It should be noted that 83.3% of the athletes tend to feel upset about their poor competitive performance and strive to correct the errors and prevent them in future. The above data fall in no correlation with the other rates generated by the study and it gives us the reasons to assume that an individual success rate may be in negligible correlation with the above differences in ratings of personal accomplishments and errors.

The key motivations for the sport career reported by the subject Paralympians were as follows: 50% mentioned the personality self-development agenda; and 33.3% gave the top priority to sport accomplishments. These motivation rating factors may be applied both to test beginner athletes and design relevant motivation programs.

It should be further noted that 61.1% of the subjects reported positive attitudes to fatigue, pain and other discomforts they face in the training process, and this finding was found to fall in good correlation with reports of other sport psychologists including those working with Paralympians [1, 4, 9]. Furthermore, our survey showed the positive attitudes to fatigue falling in correlation with the individual acceptance of injuries as an inevitable element of progress (r = 0.523, p = 0.026) and confidence in the individual sport career contributing to future success (r = 0.523, p = 0.026). It should also be noted that such athletes are normally focused on competitive accomplishments as a key sport motivator (r = 0.495, p = 0.037). The above factors on the whole are likely to contribute to the athlete’s ability to cope with hardships, pain and injuries as a result of their conscientious choice driven by potential competitive accomplishments they view as a basis for success in future.

The question of the Paralympians’ competitive injuries deserves being considered separately. Some modern researchers tend to classify such injuries with “secondary disabilities” [1; 5; 6] and give a high priority to the individual ability to diagnose and prevent them on a timely basis. Our survey data and analyses showed that 77.2% of successful athletes tend to accept injuries as an inevitable element of their sport careers, and this fairly common attitude is somewhat alarming we believe. The acceptance of injuries as inevitable was found to closely correlate with readiness to sacrifice common joys of life for high competitive accomplishments (r = 0.564, p = 0.015). In view of this finding, we recommend a due priority being given to the pain-control, injury and over-training prevention skills, techniques and knowledge in the Paralympians’ training systems.

Let us now briefly consider the findings of the Paralympian team coaches’ questionnaire survey. It should be noted that the survey was designed with a special emphasis on the psychological problems faced by the coaches.

Most of the coaches (70%) reported absolutely balanced and equal attitudes to their more and less gifted trainees, albeit 30% of the coaches reported still giving more attention to the more gifted ones, and the same group of coaches reported the most negative attitudes to the poor competitive performance of their trainees (r = 0.667, p = 0.035). Furthermore, most of the coaches (60%) reported being upset when their trainees leave them for another coach, with only 30% saying they react peacefully in such cases; and 10% reported no such cases in their coaching careers. The survey showed 60% of the coaches being reportedly unhurt by such common traits of Paralympians as touchiness and suspiciousness and willing to understand and help the trainees; whilst 20% of the coaches were found prone to retaliatory behaviours dominated by irritation and sensitivity; and 20% mostly ignore such situations. Furthermore, most of the coaches (60%) reported keeping calm in case of defeats and poor competitive performances of their trainees and striving to analyse and prevent the competitive errors in future; and 30% of the coaches reported the poor competitive performance being rated versus the opponent’s skill and performance level. Therefore, the key psychological problems faced by the Paralympian Russian national team coaches may be listed as follows: inability or unpreparedness to correctly respond to increased touchiness and suspiciousness of the trainees by due understanding, compassion and willingness to settle the negative interpersonal situations; more attention to more gifted trainees; and the trainees’ success rating versus the opponents’ skill/ performance levels. It may be noted that similar problems of the coaches working with Paralympians have been reported by a few other researchers [2, 7, 8, 9].

It should also be mentioned that 80% of the surveyed coaches highly appreciated the Paralympians’ psychological support services and said they need to be provided for the whole period of their sport careers with due differentiation for the training and competitive process services, injury period and retirement period specific services.

Conclusion. The survey data and analyses gave us the grounds for the following recommendations to secure the Paralympians’ psychological support services being efficient. A top priority should be given to the actions to shape up the Paralympians’ ability to correctly rate their own current mastery level and secure high precompetitive fitness. Due attention is to be given to own excitement and other emotional condition control skills during the competitions. The Paralympians competitive performance was found to largely depend on their ability to train and compete for success in presence of spectators.

Some successful Paralympians tend to use their own competitive self-rates versus the opponent’s skill levels as an element of their psychological defence against defeats. Most of the successful Paralympians were found to be motivated for sport career by the self-fulfilment opportunities and potential competitive accomplishments and, hence, their training systems are recommended to be designed with the relevant priorities.

The Paralympians’ abilities to cope with the sport-specific hardships, pain and injuries appear to be driven by the conscientious focus on competitive accomplishments viewed as a basis for future success. Special emphasis in the training process, in our opinion, is to be given to the pain-control and injury/ overtraining prevention skills and techniques since most of the successful athletes tend to accept injuries as an inevitable element of their individual progress and are prepared to sacrifice the common joys of life for competitive success. It should be emphasised that this alarming attitude may trigger further serious physical and mental health disorders.

A sport psychologist will duly cooperate with the coach with due priority being given to the psychological fitness for the interpersonal conflict situations evoked by the increased touchiness and suspiciousness common for the health-deficient athletes; adequate rating and due appreciation of their successes and support after defeats; and the discriminatory special attention to the gifted trainees.

References

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Corresponding author: fizkult@teoriya.ru

Abstract

The article presents findings of a primary survey of some aspects of the most common mental and emotional conditions experienced by Paralympians. Objective of the study was to offer practical recommendations to facilitate psychological support service to the athletes. The study was based on two questionnaire survey forms designed by the authors to analyse the key aspects of training for the Paralympic Games (by coaches’ questionnaire survey form) and a variety of aspects of mental and emotional conditions experienced by the athletes prior to and during the competitions. Subject to the survey were 18 Paralympians from the Russian track-and-field national team and 10 coaches who train these athletes. The study was performed in April 2016 in Sochi when the athletes were trained for the Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The survey data and analyses found that most of the subject athletes reported feeling highly fit for the contest, with the internal mental fitness for the event being associated in most of the subjects with the right perception of their own competitive fitness level. Furthermore it was found that the athletes who can correctly rate their own emotional conditions normally show increased sensitivity to fatigue in the training process and may stop training when the actual condition requires. Most of the coaches surveyed reported absolutely equal attitudes to their higher- and less-gifted trainees, albeit 30% of the coaches were found still prone to give more attention to the gifted trainees in the training process and show negative attitudes to failures of their trainees.