The 15-point class project will consist of a typewritten paper on one of the following topics:

1. Observation of a Coach. This is an exercise in systematic observation. From observational rating scales, available from your
instructor, you will observe either a single coach or two different coaches (e.g., displaying contrasting styles). The behavioral
tallies should be summed for each area rated and percentages determined. The percentages by category rated should be
graphed and a narrative should describe in words: (a) a brief background of the coach and the team observed, (b) what was
found regarding the coach's communication patterns, (c) what this means to you, and (d) how these patterns relate to the
material described in class (textbook, handouts, and class discussions). A 15-20 page typewritten paper, which include the
figures and raw data (e.g., tallies), should be turned in on the last day of class.

2. Coach Interview. Select a coach, who has not been your coach, and arrange a time that you can conduct an in-depth
interview. Some examples of interview questions can be obtained from your instructor. These are just examples and you are
required to add and delete questions so as to make it as relevant as possible. The questions you select should deal with sport
psychology and cover most of the topics in the class text (even the chapters not covered yet). It is recommended that you use
general questions to begin with, followed by more specific questions. It is also a good idea to tape record the session so you
won't miss what is being said. Once you have conducted the interview you will need to synthesize the content by organizing the
coaches comments into related categories. A 15-20 page typewritten paper, which include the questions you asked, should be
completed and turned in on the last day of class.

3. Parent/Youth Sport Interview. Select two young athletes (ages 10-14) and their parents and interview them. Examples of
questions for parents and youth athletes can be obtained from your instructor. These questions are only examples and it is
expected that you will delete and add questions so as to tailor them to the situation you have chosen. The paper will be more
interesting if you select kids that provide for a contrast (e.g., kids of different socio-economic background, cultural background,
etc.). Material from the textbook, lectures, or other sport psychology reference material should be consulted to assist in
interpreting this information. A 15-20 page typewritten paper, which includes the questions you used for children and parents,
should be turned in the last day of class.

                               PROJECT 1: THE COACH OBSERVATION
 
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS AND PURPOSES

The purpose of this project is to determine if a coach’s behaviors, primarily verbal communication, may be recorded during a
practice session, or a portion of a practice.  Further, the student is encouraged to draw conclusions from the types of behaviors
which predominate, relative to coaching effectiveness, and to the improvement of coaching effectiveness.

 CURRENT THOUGHTS AND HYPOTHESES

It is generally believed that the most effective coaches give positive instruction following corrections in practice.  Further, the
research indicates that coaching behaviors may be reliably recorded during a practice.

After obtaining permission from a coach to record "what you say" during a practice session or portion thereof, the student,
using the following form, records the incidence of each type of verbal communication occurring for a period of time. Usually an
hour is best. The student may wish to attempt to use the instrument for a brief period of time on the same, or another coach in
order to sharpen their observa-tional and recording skills before attempting the main part of the project.

The recording form on the following page should be marked, and then appropriate percentages computed; divide the total
communication recorded into the number within each category, and round off to the nearest %.  Additional comments and
observations may also be made including whether the coach seemed to selectively reward or punish (verbally) certain players,
or players at various levels of skill; and the possible role of non-verbal communication in the molding of the players’ attitudes
and skills.  Incongruence between the coach’s verbal and non-verbal behaviors may also be “picked up” by the observer.
 
COACHING BEHAVIOR DATA FORM
Coach
Sport
Duration of Observation
Practice/Game
Date
Other information (i.e., coaching experience)

Time Periods
Behaviors 1 2 3 4

YOU CAN USE EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING TWO OBSERVATIONAL RATING SCALES (SELECT ONE)

OBSERVATIONAL SCALE 1:

I.  General Coach-Initiated Behaviors

     A. Organizational Comments (“you get over here”)
     B. General Encouragemen (“let’s go!”)
     C. General Punitive-negative (“I don’t want any of that today”)
     D. Instruction in Methods (“be sure to….”)

II.  Behaviors in Reaction to Players’ Behaviors

     A.    Positive, general comment to good performance (no instruction)
     B.    Positive, general comment followed by instruction
     C.    Negative comment, general to poor performance (no instruction)
     D.    Negative comment, followed by instructional content
                 a.   Hostile delivery of instruction
                 b.   Non-hostile delivery of instruction

III.  Verbal reactions to players’ questions about game-practice content

      A.   Answers given with positive-cheerful tone
      B.   Answers given with neutral tone
      C.   Answers given with caustic, negative tone

IV.  Coaching Behaviors unrelated to game-practice

      A.   Comments to players
      B.   Comments to others 

OBSERVATIONAL RATING SCALE 2 (CBAS):

Class I. Reactive Behaviors

                   A.  Desirable Performance

                    1. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT (R)

                    2. NONREINFORCEMENT (NR)

                    3.  MISTAKE-CONTINGENT ENCOURAGEMENT (EM)

                    4. MISTAKE-CONTINGENT TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION (TIM)

                    5. PUNISHMENT (P)

                    6. PUNITIVE TIME (TIM + P)

                    7. IGNORING MISTAKES (IM)

                    8. KEEPING CONTROL (KC)

 Class II. Spontaneous Behaviors

                    9. GENERAL TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION (TIG)

                  10.  GENERAL ENCOURAGEMENT  (EG)

                  11. ORGANIZATION (O)
 
                  12. GENERAL COMMUNICATION (GC)

WHICHEVER SCALE IS USED YOU CAN SUMMARIZE YOU DATA AS FOLLOWS:

SUMMARIZE BY TIME PERIODS IF APPLICABLE

I.  General Coach-initiated behaviors

     A.   Organizational Comments
     B.   General Encouragement
     C.   General Punitive-Negative
     D.   Instruction in Methods
 
II.  Behaviors in Reactions to Players’ Behaviors
 
     A.   Positive, general comment to good performance
     B.   Positive general comment, followed by instruction
     C.   Negative comment, no instruction
     D.   Negative comment, followed by instruction
              a.  Hostile delivery
              b.  Non-hostile delivery

III. Verbal Reactions to Players’ Questions/Comments
 
     A.   Answers given in positive tone
     B.   Answers given in neutral tone
     C.   Answers given in negative tone
 
IV.  Coaching Behaviors, unrelated to game-practice
 
     A.  Comments to players
     B.   Comments to others
 
Note:  % may be computed, both of the percent of a given type of comment found within a given category (i.e., percent of
answers in a positive tone found within total verbal reactions to players’ questions/comments) as well as % of a given category
within the total responses obtained (i.e., % of coach initiated behaviors, based upon the total behaviors obtained in all
categories).

 DATA TREATMENT AND RESULTS

Summarize your data in bar-graph form with each bar indicating the percent of the type of communication indicated. You may
also want to summarize your data by indicating what percent of behaviors were seen within each of the broader categories
indicated on your form: i.e., reactive behaviors versus coach-instigated behaviors.

Your findings should focus upon how you might evaluate this coach’s style  relative to the coaching behaviors indicated, or how
you might improve the coaching effectiveness of your subject (suggestions you should keep to yourself and submit only to your
course professor). If your study permitted it, you may contrast your data obtained from two coaches or the same coach under
two conditions (early vs. late season) in a double-bar graph format.

You should discuss a contrast you have observed between coaches (i.e., experienced versus inexperienced, men versus
women, or perhaps those in team versus individual sports) or between the same coach in two different settings/situations  your
data should just be descriptive in nature (e.g., coach observed in practice versus a game situation).

IMPLICATIONS OF YOUR FINDINGS

Your findings should indicate how the coach usually deals with player mistakes, as well as with outstanding play occurring
during the sessions you observed.  The coaches behavior after a player has committed a mistake should be carefully analyzed.
Most of the research indicates, for example, that the coach who criticizes, but follows criticism with positive instruction is more
likely to be an effective leader, than one who simply admonishes without giving the transgressor a positive way to act following
a mistake.

You might find that your coach “selectively attends” to the better players, in contrast to a lack of attention and communication
given to the less able athletes.  This disparity in attention is often commented upon unfavorably when athletes are asked to
assess their coaches.

You might also contrast the effects of verbal versus non-verbal behaviors coming from your coach.  Still other contrasts might
include coaching behaviors observed under the pressure of a game, versus behaviors seen during a less intense practice session.

You might wish to comment upon the coaching effectiveness as seen in the behaviors displayed by the coach.  However, you
should take care not to transmit these opinions to the coach, unless he/she specifically requests them.  These comments should
be screened in advance by your course professor in order to insure that a continued good relationship will occur between the
professor and the coach.

You might also be able to speculate how various players might perceive the coach, based upon your observations of how they
received the comments of the coach you observed.

Most of the data you have obtained should be simply discussed and this discussion should correspond to the figures or bar
graphs you have prepared and placed in the Appendix to your paper.
 

                              PROJECT 2:  COACH INTERVIEW   

INTRODUCTION
 
      Few coaches may be found who do not have definitive ideas on a number of topics relative to the psychology of coaching.
Most have well thought out ideas about how they deal with their athletes, and how they handle difficult situation which may
arise.  When questioned about how they tend to “handle” people and situations in sport, coaches like most of us are likely to
present themselves in the most favorable ways possible.  Despite this tendency toward self-enhancement, it is believed useful
for you to conduct as objective an interview as possible of a coach who permits you to do so.

     The interview attempts to accomplish a number of objective:  (a) in a straight forward manner to collect information
concerning how the coach deals with motivating his/her team, reduces anxiety in athletes, curbs unwarranted displays of
aggression, and perhaps encourages athletes to engage in the mental practice of skill;  (b) if the coach is an older more
“experienced” mentor, the coach will also be asked to contrast his/her psychological strategies practiced now, with those
engaged in earlier in their career;  (c) determine whether the coach deals with anxiety, and similar problems in a manner similar
to the ways in which he/she dealt with similar problems when he/she was an athlete, and finally;  (d)  to determine whether or
not the coach exhibits the tendency to deal with individual differences on the team, or to treat all problems in a group context,
with blanket methods applicable to all members of the team.

     The questions on the following interview form are meant to be as inoffensive as possible.  That is, the statements try to avoid
a direct reference to “How do you…” as much as possible.  Rather, questions contain such phrases as “How do you think a
coach should…” in attempts to make the queries as impersonal and non-judgmental as possible.

     If possible, the interviewer should attempt to “employ” the same coach in this interview as was used in the previous project.
If this is possible, the student may draw interesting contrasts between how the coach perceives the “ideal coach…” or
themselves, and how that coach actually behaves when interacting with their athletes.

     The interview form is relatively structured.   However, permit the coach interviewed to take off on a topic which may be of
interest to him or her.  Often, important information may be obtained this way.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS AND PURPOSES
 
      This project should enable you to obtain information about how one or more coaches report dealing with various
psychological and social-psychological dimensions of athletic participation.   You have the opportunity to further sharpen
interview skills you began exercising in previous projects.  Some of the questions permit you to determine how sensitive
coaches may be to their own behaviors, behaviors which you may have recorded in the previous project (9).  You may also
discover how concerned the coach is about the athlete’s aggressions, anxiety, and skill acquisition.  The questions and answers
may also permit you to ascertain just how sensitive the coach is to individual differences in emotional make-ups they may be
confronting on the team.  You may find coaches who seem to be dealing with athletes, just as their coaches did when they were
athletes.  On the other hand, you may discover that the coach or coaches you interview are aware of new and useful ways of
dealing with people within the stress situations presented by athletic competition.

CURRENT THOUGHTS AND HYPOTHESES
 
      Effective coaching is partly dependent upon the degree to which the coach deals effectively with individual differences in the
psychological make-up of athletes on his/her team.  Moreover, flexible coaches tend to change the ways they deal with athletes
over time.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES
 
      The questionnaire that follows permits the coach to read the questions, which you may pose verbally at the same time.  You
may permit the coach to read one form, while recording answers on a second one.  You may modify the form to suit the
situation, the coach, and/or the team involved.  Modifications of the form may depend upon whether the coach interviewed was
the same one observed in Project 9, as well as upon how much experience the coach may have had dealing with his/her sport.

      Questions that suggest that the coach is an authority are not likely to meet resistance from the individual being interviewed.
Such questions may begin: “What do you think most coaches…”, etc.  On the other hand, coaches may be more threatened by
questions which focus specifically upon their opinions about themselves.  This kind of more stressful question may begin with
the phrase “What do you do…” or perhaps “What do you think…”.  You should be warned, however, that often what people
believe is ideal (what I believe coaches should do) is not what they may actually do.  That is, attitudes and behaviors do not
sometimes coincide.

      The interview form may be modified, but could appear as follows:

I. General Information:
      Coach’s age __________________  sex __________________
      Sport  ____________________  number of years in coaching _________
      Other sports coached  _________________________________________
      ___________________________________________________________
      Levels coached ______________________________________________
      Experience as an athlete: sport(s) ________________________________
      Years ______________________  Level reached ___________________
 
II. Overview

    1.  To what degree do you think a coach should give decisions about practices, training rules to athletes, or retain them
for him/herself?  (1 = coach makes all decisions; 5= athletes given most decisions)   Explain:
_______________________________________
    2. To what degree do you think coaches believe that success in coaching is due to psychological factors versus skill,
teaching, and conditioning of the team?  (1 = success due to psychological factors; 5 = Skills and conditioning paramount)
Explain: ________________________________________________________________

     In the following sections, questions may be posed within three time-frames: (a) asking the coach what he/she did when
competing as an athlete (i.e., mental rehearsal), (b) what they did when they first coached mental rehearsal, and (c) what they
are doing now (if coaching more than five years).  When evaluating these questions, you may arrive at some determination of
how flexible the coach is now.  That is, if the coach still seems to believe that everyone feels as he/she one did when competing
as an athlete, the coach may appear less than flexible.  On the other hand, the coach who seems to be seeking new,
contemporary solutions to problems encountered may be judged to be more flexible.  The section which follows may also shed
further light upon the flexibility of the coach you are interviewing.

A. Motivation

 Rank separately, in the order of importance, how you perceived each of the motives listed; when you were an athlete, when
you first coached, and how you perceive their importance now.

 1.  Emotional support from the coach
2.  Inspirational talks from the coach
3.  Appealing to the athlete’s need to achieve, to master the skills of the sport
4.  Needs to overcome stress, to meet challenges of the sport
5.  To form close relationships with teammates
6.  To achieve status among peers and teammates (you may add others to this list)
 
B. Anxiety control

 In the same manner, rank (in order of importance) how you deal (dealt) with fear now, when you were an athlete, and when
you were first coaching.
 
1.  “Think Positively”
2.  Think of other things independent of sport
3.  Relaxation training, muscular techniques
4.  Reducing importance of contest, competition
5.  Visual imagery reflecting positive images
 
 C. Aggression Control

 Did you, or do you, engage in any of the following methods to aid your athletes (or you as an athlete) in the control and focus
of aggressive thoughts and behaviors?  Rank (in order of importance) the following separately reflecting your thoughts about
importance at various times in your career as athlete/coach (i.e., When an athlete, When 1st coaching, Now)
 
1.  Talks with an athlete (to self) to help place aggressive feelings into perspective
2.  Channel aggression into skill and trying harder in games
3.  Talks to athletes after contests to aid in understanding aggression
4.  Other, explain
 
D. Mental Rehearsal

 When helping your athletes, do you engage in any attempts to help them mentally practice skills?  Which do you feel are the
most important, ranked in order of importance? (When an athlete, 1st coaching, Now)

 1.  Suggestions as to time of day and place
2.  Suggestions as to form of rehearsal (verbal, visual, etc.)
3.  Suggesting success imagery, using skills
4.  Suggestions as to duration
 
What other suggestions have you found helpful to you as an athlete, or helpful now to your athletes, relative to mental rehearsal
of skill?  You might ask the coach what other strategies and techniques employing some form of psychology he/she has found
useful, and less-than-useful within the past seasons?

DATA TREATMENT AND RESULTS
 
     Your data may be simply summarized in sentence statements.  If more than one coach has been interviewed you may
contrast their rankings of importance using rank order correlations.  For example, of 10 or more coaches are interviewed, you
may compute relationships between authoritarianism feelings about the coach’s part in decision making, and whether or not the
coach believes in the use of psychological principles.  However, for the most part, if you have interviewed just one coach, it is
best to describe your data in narrative form, rather than with resource to formal statistical methods.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
 
     Inspection of the responses you obtained should enable you to determine tentative answers to some of the following
questions:  (a) What emphasis, if any, does the coach place upon various kinds of psychological preparation? (b) What kinds of
psychological problems does the coach seem to place the most emphasis on?  (c) How flexible does the coach seem when you
contrast past feelings and techniques to the importance the coach presently places upon various psychological strategies and
motives?  (d) How much has the coach changed over time in the manner in which he/she views various psychological strategies
and methods?  (i.e., from earlier days as a coach to present coaching decisions)  (e) What congruences, or incongruences, did
you perceive when contrasting coaching behaviors seen in Project 9 with what the same coach reported about himself/herself in
Project 10? (If the same coach was involved in both).
 
 
                         PROJECT 3: PARENT-YOUTH INTERVIEWS
 
INTRODUCTION

During the 1960s and the early 1970s only sporadic attempts may be found which attempted to analyze the psychological
forces, and possible psychic changes which may accompany the youthful sports competitor. However, by the middle 1970s
more and more interest has been paid to inter-relationships between a child’s self-esteem and possible competitive anxiety; to
evaluating the manner in which various coaching behaviors may influence a child in sport, and trying to discover just how
coaches and competitive opportunities may mold children and youth over prolonged periods of time.

The youth may be particularly susceptible to emotional upset when confronted with the highly visible success/failure experiences
which are inevitably in competitive sport. One of the primary reasons is that children and youth many times have not fully
acquired anchoring points for determining their own worth, and thus may be more susceptible than older people including
adolescents to ridicule and the abuse of important others as they fail in a sporting contest. On the other hand, they may equally
over-react winning, as their lack of experience at “handling” success experiences may leave them open to elaborately extend
praise, accolades which they may not fully understand, or be able to deal with.

The child and youth may be particularly susceptible to pressures exerted by coaches. For many, a coach may be the first
authority figure, able to reward or punish them (by playing or not playing them), they have been confronted with outside their
family. Thus, the child is likely to act and to react to the coach/authority figure in ways in which they have been taught to act by
the manner in which they have been treated by their parents. A child raised by an authoritarian father/mother may react
differently than a child raised in a relatively democratically oriented home environment; while a child who has habitually
manipulated parental figures may have a difficult time with the self-discipline, and imposed discipline which usually accompany
the competitive sporting experience.

Most important, the initial experience in competitive sport provides a testing ex-perience for the younger child; an experience
which permits the child to test his/her powers, to test the feelings of others about their relative successes and failures, and to test
their prowess against their peers in ways which are highly measurable.  Failing in these initial tests may have a lasting effect upon
the child’s opinion of himself/herself, while success, exhibited not only in winning but in the opportunity to exert useful efforts,
may also have a rather important influence upon the manner in which the child constructs his/her early perceptions of
himself/herself.

The project to be carried out requires rather sensitive handling by the student. Proposed is an interview with the child, with
parental permission of course. This may be followed by an interview with on or both parents (interviewed together or apart).
The resultant data may permit an interesting contrast between the child’s perceptions of sport involvement with those of the
parent(s).  Needless to say, the relationships between child and parent are among the most delicate ones in existence.
Therefore the interviewer-student should proceed with caution and post questions with care and diplomacy.
Additionally, the manner in which queries are phrased is quite critical. Extreme care should be taken both to phrase questions in
language the child is capable of understanding and at the same time not to "talk down" to a youth who may be relatively
sophisticated. Thus the interview form contains suggested questions queries which may be modified by student conducting the
project in judicious ways. The final interview form should be shown to the course instructor prior to administration.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS AND PURPOSES

The primary purposes include attempting to ascertain some of the psychosocial forces which impinge upon the youth in sport
and to determine how these forces may influence the child's emotions and performances. Secondary purposes are to determine
how the child views his/her performance and other reactions to the competitive experience. Additionally, with the addition of
parental interview data contrast may be drawn between parent's perceptions of, for example, why the child is participating in
sport and the child's own ideas of why he/she is participating. Ad-ditional child-parent contrasts may be made concerning: (a)
perceptions of coaches, (b) how anxiety is dealt with or experienced, (c) the child's and parent's view of how aggressive
feelings may influence the child's participation, and (d) how the child thinks about the skills and tactics of the sport. This project
may also be combined with Project 18 in which observational data is obtained of a parent and child during a competitive
confrontation.

CURRENT THOUGHTS AND HYPOTHESES

It is assumed by some that the motives for a child s participation in sport may be neatly classified into identifiable "incentives"
(Alderman and Wood 1976). Addi-tionally it has been found that a child with higher self-esteem is less likely to become
anxious upon confronting potentially stressful competitive sports than are children with lower self-esteem. Specific behavioral
indices have also been attached to post--contest anxiety including loss of sleep change in mood and modifications of eating
habits. While finally Cratty (1981) and others have suggested that various child rear-ing "styles" may be ref1ected later in the
manner in which the child deals with au-thority figures in sport (i.e., the coach).

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

After obtaining parental permission and assuring the child that the interview will be short, and easy, the following questionnaire
may be presented for the child to read (if he/she is able) and to be filled in by the interviewer.
 
I. General Information:

Your age?  _________________ Type of sport _____________________________, Position
________________________  Length of time in sport ______________________,
  Why you started in the sport? _________________________________________________
   __________________________________________________________________________         Who was important
at the beginning? -____________________________________________

II. What reasons do you have for participating in the present time?

a. To make and keep friends of others on the team? __________
b. To become better at the skills in the sport?  _____________
c. So you may “lord it over others,” my opponents, & others on the team? _____________

d. So that you can do something by yourself without depending upon others?
     _____________
e.  For the excitement and action your sport provides?  ____________
f.  So that you can "be somebody" within your group at school? -___________
g. To receive trophies, awards, jackets etc.-  _____________
h. Other reasons  __________________________________________________
     ______________________________________________________________

(Note: interviewer should try, with the help of the child to rank these incentives in order of preference or "strength," from 1-7.)

Additional question: Do the reasons you participate now differ from the reasons you had for first beginning the sport?
_________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

III. Do you ever become a little or a lot fearful before an important contest? _______
_______________________________________________________________________
What do you seem mainly afraid of?

a. Not being ready to do well, not fit enough, or good enough at the skills
______________
.
b. What people will say if you do not do well, your friends __________
c. What your parents might think, or say after the game, or competition
               _________________
d. Of hurting yourself in the competition-  ____________
e. Of being embarrassed by another teams or another athlete- __________
f.  Of what the coach may think or say after the competition ___________
g. Of what your teammates may think about you or say after the competition
     _________________________

h. Other things _________________________________________________

(Note: interviewer should try to rank, in order of importance the following reasons, from 1-8, if possible.)

IV. Do you ever think about the skills, or the tactics in your sport, when you are not at practice? Yes ______
No ________

a. How do you think about them … do you feel the skill, looking out of your own eyes?
_____________ .  Imagine yourself watching yourself from a distance? ____________
In other ways?  ________________________________________________________
 
b. Do you carefully practice your skills at regular times of the day? _________.     When?_________________________
How long? ___________________.
.
c. Has anyone ever helped you to think through the skills of your sport during
practice, or outside of practice, or in regular ways? ________________________ Explain
_____________________________________________________________

V. Do you ever dream about your sport? Yes ______ no_______ (if no, go to last section)

a. In your usual dream about your sport, are you being successful? ___________
b. Are you having problems, failing? -  _____________________
c. Are others in your dream? ____________. Who? ______________________________

 VI. After a competition, are you ever nervous? __________________ .

Does it make any difference whether you won or lost? _____________________________________.
Do you ever have trouble eating?  ________________. Sleeping ________________
Or do you seem to get mad easily at others, or withdraw from others after a competi-tion
which has upset you? _______________. Have you ever discussed these problems
after competition with anyone? ________________. Who?  _________________________

VII. Before, during or after a competition, have you ever gotten so mad that you wanted to hurt or embarrass
another member of the team you are competing against? ______________ .

Have you controlled your temper, or have you had problems with fouls etc., during a game? (If appropriate to the sport)
___________________________________ .
Has anyone helped you control your temper if you have had a problem in this way? _______. Who?
________________________________________________. How? _______________.

VIII. Additional Information

  1. List your brothers and sisters, their ages, and their experience in sports participation including the levels they have reached.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

  2. In your last important competition which you lost, what do you think caused the loss?
      _______________________________________________________________________
  3. In your last important competition which you won, what do you think caused the win?
      _______________________________________________________________________
 
PARENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE

The parental questionnaire should parallel the child's questionnaire, in order to provide contrasts. The interviewer, if unable to
interview mother and father separately, should note who carried the interview, and/or who tended to answer certain questions,
and whether there seemed to be general mother-father agreement and on what questionnaire(s).
The entire parental interview form will not be constructed, but in general the main questions should be modified in the expected
manner, i.e.:

I. What reasons does your child have for participating in sport? (See II on youth interview) list and rank, including other.

II.  Does your child seem, to become fearful before a contest? . . .

What does he/she seem mainly afraid of?  __________________________________________
(List and rank as in child’s interview form.)

III. Does your child seem to think about the skills outside of practices?

IV. Has your child ever told you about dreams they have had about the sport?

V.  After a competition, is your child seemingly nervous? . . . Has he/she had problems with eating, sleeping, mood changes,
actions toward others?

VI. Has your child seemingly had problems controlling his/her temper prior to, during, or after a competition? What forms has
this excess anger taken? i.e., excess fouls or fighting during contest?

VII. In the last losing effort, to what did your child refer to when explaining the loss?  In the last winning effort, to did the child
refer to when explaining the win?
 
DATA TREATMENT AND RESULTS

Data may be treated in tabular form, with comparisons of rankings by child and parent in such subjects as motivation, causes of
anxiety, etc. shown. Discussion of general congruence, and in what areas, between parent and child’s reports, together with
discussion of incongruences encountered and possible implications should be presented.
The data obtained in this project is not amenable to strict statistical analyses, within the scope of the methods presented in the
appendix.  Instead, the information should be presented in narrative form.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS

The interview data just from the child should enable you to determine whether the child’s reports generally tend to fall into the
expected reasons given for children’s anxiety in sport, as well as the congruence with accepted incentive systems.  Possible
relationships between the child’s problems in dealing with anxiety, and aggression, and apparently available people, or ways to
aid them to deal with these things should also be explored.  The child’s reasons for winning, and for losing may also be dealt
with within a framework provided by attribution theory (Weiner, 1972).