Elite athletes' perspectives about the importance of psychological preparation and personal experiences with sport psychology

Abstract

Portuguese elite athletes with disabilities (n=14) were interviewed to explore the importance assigned to psychological preparation and their personal experiences on sport psychology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using standard qualitative methodology. All the participants highlighted the importance of psychological preparation in sports performance. Moreover, it was evident a gap on applied sport psychology among the athletes. Most of the athletes never had any kind of psychological intervention for sport. Although some participants mentioned barriers to sport psychology intervention (e.g., athlete's age, perception of psychological skills as innate characteristics, and the opinion of others), most of the athletes expressed receptiveness to engage in psychological skills training and stressed the need for that support. Some recommendations for future sport psychology interventions are presented as well as the study limitations.