Mindfulness and Compassion Strategies on Elite Soccer: Conceptualization of Mindfulness-Based Soccer Program (MBSoccerP)

Abstract

ARTICLE INFO abstract The difference between success and failure has become increasingly smaller in sport. A "third wave" approach in sport psychology, is been recently used for the first time to increase the performance level of the elite athletes with very well-defined programs. Study findings yielded that high-level athlete's meta-awareness and effective refocusing training by mindfulness-based programs were identified as important factors on performance training and competition. Objectives: Explore the conceptualization and implementation of the Mindful-ness-Based Soccer Program (MBSoccerP) to optimize mindfulness, compassion in the elite soccer performance. Secondary aims are: understand the relationship between attributes of mindfulness traits and self-compassion-the impact on the state of sports performance and dispositional flow; the relation between psychological symptoms, experiential avoidance and consequent effect on the level of anxiety and sports performance. Methods: Letter to editor was conduct based on scientific publications and was retrieved from the PUBMED, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane, ISI-Web of Science databases searched from 1985 to 2018. The main references cited in reviews were also included in the review to ensure that no relevant studies were excluded. The main search terms were mindfulness based interventions, sport performance, soccer, flow state, self-compassion, in different combinations as needed. Results: The letter to editor allowed documenting advantages in participating in the Mindfulness-Based Soccer Program MBSoccerP with increase the attributes related to mindfulness, higher levels of self-compassion, acceptance flow state, sport performance, a lower overall index of psychopathological symptoms and physiological response to stress, less suppression of thoughts. Conclusions: Study findings yielded could suggest that MBSoccerP can be helpful to enhance performance in sport.