Individual and team sports athletes in the transition from junior to senior sports Halmstad University School of Social and Health Sciences Sport Psychology, 91-120 points, spring 2009 Supervisor: Natalia Stambulova Co-supervisor: Fredrik Weibull Examiner: Urban Johnson Author: Alina Franck ___________________________________________________________________ HÖGSKOLAN I HALMSTAD Tel vx 035 - 16 71 00 Besöksadress: Box 823 Tel direkt 035 - 16 7…… Kristian IV:s väg 3 301 18 HALMSTAD Telefax 035 - 14 85 33 Pg 788129 – 5 2 Franck, A. (2009). Individual and team sports athletes in the transition from junior to senior sports . (Essay in sport psychology 91-120 hp) School of Social and Health Sciences. Halmstad University. Abstract This quantitative study deals with the transition from junior to senior sports comparing individual (ISA) and team (TSA) sports athletes in terms of: (a) differences between transition and personal variables, (b) relationships between transition and personal variables, (c) contributions of some transition and personal variables into the quality of adjustment on the senior level of sport. There were 195 participants, ISA (n = 49) and TSA (n = 146). Four instruments were used: the Transition Monitoring Survey, the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire and the Physical Self Perception Profile (revised). Thirty significant differences in the transition and personal variables were found. There was a common pattern in the correlations between transition and personal variables and specific patterns for ISA and TSA. Coping strategies, body attractiveness, athletic identity and physical self-value appeared to be predictors for the quality of adjustment for ISA and coping strategies, ego orientation and physical self-value for TSA. The results are discussed in relation to theoretical frameworks and previous research. Keywords: Individual sports athletes, team sports athletes, transition from junior to senior sports 3 Franck, A. (2009). Individuella och lag sports idrottare i övergången från junior till senior idrott. (Magisteruppsats Idrottspsykologi 91-120 hp) Sektionen för Hälsa och Samhälle. Högskolan i Halmstad. Sammanfattning Den här kvantitativa studien handlar om övergången från junior till senior idrott och jämför individuella idrottare (II) och lag idrottare (LI) i: (a) skillnader i övergångs och personlighets variabler, (b) relationerna mellan övergångs och personlighets variabler, (c) hur några övergångs och personlighets variabler bidrar till idrottarnas anpassning till senior nivån. I studien deltog 195 idrottare, II (n = 49) och LI (n = 146). Fyra mätinstrument användes: Enkäten Karriärövergången från Junior- till Senioridrott, the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire and the Physical Self Perception Profile (revised). Trettio signifikanta skillnader i övergångs och personlighets variabler hittades. Det fanns ett gemensamt mönster i korrelationerna mellan övergångs och personlighets variablerna och de specifika monstrena för II och LI. Coping strategier, kroppsattraktivitet, idrottsidentitet och fysiskt självvärde verkade förutspå hur anpassade II var till senior nivån och coping strategier, ego motivation och fysiskt självvärde till hur anpassade LI var till senior nivån. Resultaten diskuterades med hjälp av teoretiskt referensram och tidigare forskning. Nyckelord: Individuella idrottare, lag idrottare, övergången från junior till senior idrott 4 Introduction When I was collecting the data for this study I had a talk with the coach for the girls handball team that is participating in the study (Personal communication, March 3, 2009). He shared his thoughts on individual and team sport athletes, and this is what he said: I am a team athlete and have always been. Recently I started with golf together with a friend of mine who is an individual athlete. When I am going to hit the ball I always find it hard to focus because everyone is looking, and if I make a bad hit it’s my own fault. But my friend has no problem focusing even though people are talking around him. I think this has to do with our backgrounds in sport. I am a coach for a girl’s team in handball and I can see that no one wants to be an individualist, but I think even in team sports it’s important to have athletes who are more individualist and who can take the final shot without hesitating. Ludmila Engquist explained the difficulties she had to adjust to team sport which lead to a crisis. This is her comment on individual and team sport athletes: “I have always been an individual athlete with full control over everything…Now I have to work in the team and I totally lost this control. My part has not felt important…” (in Stambulova, 2003, p.108). These are two perspectives on individual and team sport athletes, both showing that there are differences between individual and team sports. Research on athletes, nonathletes, individual sport athletes and team sport athletes started in the 1970s (Weinberg & Gould, 2003). These studies could not find any personality profile that distinguished athletes from nonathletes. However, when looking at individual and team sport there were differences between the athletes personalities. Other studies have showed that many athletes withdraw from sport around the time of the transition from junior to senior sport (Vanden Auweele, De Martelaer, Rzewnicki, De Knop, & Wylleman, 2004; Butcher, Lindner, & Johns, 2002). Knowing all this, it is important to examine how individual and team sport athletes perceive demands, resources, barriers, coping strategies in the transition process from junior to senior sport (Stambulova, Johnsson, Hinic, & Weibull, 2008). This is important so that trainers, coaches and other sport leaders know how to assist athletes in the transition process. Key terms of athletes’ career transitions Athletic career “Athletic career is a term for a multiyear sport activity, voluntarily chosen by the person aimed at achieving his or her individual peak in athletic performance in or several sport events” (Alfermann & Stambulova, 2007, p.713). The word “career” refers only to competitive sports, on all levels. When the career starts and ends depend highly on the sports event. Some sports have an early career, as for example gymnastics, while other sports like marathon have a late career. Another view on athletic career is that it contains different stages from when the athlete starts to when the athlete ends his or her career (Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004). Career transition Transition is a result from one or more events and is defined as a process (Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004). “ Transitions come with a set of specific demands related to practice, competitions, communication, and lifestyle that athletes have to cope with in order to continue successfully in sport or to adjust to the post career” (Alfermann & Stambulova, 2007, p.713). The transitions that athletes face can be divided into two categories, normative and non- normative transitions. A normative transition means that the transition is a part of the career development and can be predicted in advance; this can be the transition from junior to senior 5 level and the termination of the career. This gives the athlete a chance to be prepared. Non- normative transition, on the other hand, gives the athlete no predictability before the transition occurs; for example, an injury or change of a coach. Individual and team athlete Individual sport athletes practice in groups or individually. They compete individually and have individual results, which can be a part of a team result. Team sport athletes practice mostly in groups and they compete with a team and the team shares the results (Lindwall, Johnson & Åström, 2002). Theoretical frameworks Different models can be used to explain the athletic career transitions (Alfermann & Stambulova, 2007). The Ecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) gives a good overview of how environmental factors affect an individual’s development. The Developmental model of transition faced by athletes (Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004) is a descriptive model of the different stages during the athletic career. This type of model explains the transitions in a holistic view; the model describes the normative transitions that an athlete faces but does not explain the specific transition processes that the athlete goes through. To explain the process of a transition, the Athletic career transition model developed by Stambulova (2003) can be used. This model explains a transition process for example the transition from junior to senior level, from amateur to professional sport, and how an athlete copes with the transition. The Ecological Model of Human Development The Ecological Model of Human Development was devised by Bronfenbrenner (1979). The ecology of human development depends on two main things: the development of the individual and the changes in the environmental settings around the individual. An individual is affected by both individual growth and environmental factors separately but also by the two combined. The model divides environmental factors into different levels such as macro-, exo-, meso- and microlevel. The macrolevel is a system containing the other levels, including culture and ideologies of the settings where the individual lives, economic situations, political aspects and major organizations. Different countries have different traditions which affect the individual’s development and