PST stands for Psychological Skills Training and means developing mental and psychological
skills to improve someone's performance. The process of which the PST takes place is called a
PST programme. There are 3 main phases of a PST programme: education, acquisition, and
practice. Education is where you explain the importance of the programme to the client. This is
necessary as the client will need to understand why they are going to commit to the 6-week
programme and to ensure them that it will benefit their performance and mental wellbeing in the
future. Acquisition is researching the different and up to date psychological skills to learn the
skill and develop it over time. Having the knowledge of the techniques on how to improve the
psychological skill in everyday life will set a base which the client can build on to eventually lead
onto the practice stage. Practice is when you provide different environments and opportunities
for the client to use the PST techniques in their sport. Depending on the sport/activity the client
does, the way the psychological skill will be done will vary. The strategy used in the weekly
sessions should relate to the client's sport so they should be able to easily implement it before
their performance.
From getting to know the client, I have found that she has an active lifestyle, training 3 days a
week (2 hours a session). She has been trampolining for 4 years competitively and also does it
for pleasure as she finds it fun, which could be a factor that improves her motivation. She has
participated in 3 different competitions and has won 1. She seems to be at a high level and has
lots of ability, however, she left her club before entering college because “she didn't need it
anymore.”
The client suffers some psychological issues such as high stress, high anxiety and low self-
confident in everyday life. Even though she is confident about how she performs, having high
anxiety and stress will affect her performance no matter what. If she partakes in a PST
programme where she is able to lower her anxiety and stress, it will improve performance and
also improve her self-esteem as she will feel better about herself. A PST programme will also
help the athlete be more prepared to play and perform well by improving multiple psychological
skills that they may face. Having good psychological skills is shown to also improve
performance as Lea-Cathrin Dohme clarified that “psychological components purported to
facilitate athletic performance.” As she has participated in 3 competitions and only won 1, this
programme will allow her to win more as she will be more confident and less anxious.
There are 5 different psychological skills that can be used to improve performance which are:
self-talk, goal setting, arousal control, energising techniques and imagery. Self-talk strategies
are when you talk to yourself, either out loud or in your head, to combine conscious thoughts
, alongside your built-in belief. This is usually used to improve confidence and arousal control.
Goal setting is a process where you set a SMART target to be completed for yourself or a client.
It creates more concentration towards an end goal and can convince people to constantly work
towards it. It usually improves motivation and commitment. Arousal control is the ability to
control how relaxed you are and to find your optimal state. This can be done using relaxation
techniques such as muscular relaxation and hypnosis. Imagery is the process by which you can
modify, create or strengthen pathways that are important to the coordination to the mind and
body link. This can involve your senses of feel and touch to visualise an image in your mind. It is
usually done to improve concentration and self-confidence.Energising techniques are a
combination of multiple techniques which can include self-talk, verbal cues and controlled
breathing. It is where you either psych yourself up to become more energising or compose
yourself to become more relaxed and concentrated
My PST timeline consists of an initial baseline assessment, plan of the programme, completing
the programme, then assessing and reviewing it. In my baseline assessment, I will answer
simple questions about the client's lifestyle to get to know their strengths and areas of
improvements. I have decided to do performance profiling to see which qualities are poor and
need to be improved on. From these results, we have come to a conclusion to meet specific
targets regarding her performance which is to improve her concentration, endurance and
commitment. As I have multiple pieces of information on my client, I am able to plan the PST
programme.
Client / athlete name: Francesca
Assessor / sport psychologist name: Luka Chukwu
The following initial assessments were undertaken
1. Personality
2. Sport anxiety scale test
Results from assessment 1: Neurotic Extrovert
High anxiety, worrying, overthinking, self-conscious
Emotional shifts, positive and negative.
Changeable, active, restless, touchy
Anxiety, self-confidence, stress
skills to improve someone's performance. The process of which the PST takes place is called a
PST programme. There are 3 main phases of a PST programme: education, acquisition, and
practice. Education is where you explain the importance of the programme to the client. This is
necessary as the client will need to understand why they are going to commit to the 6-week
programme and to ensure them that it will benefit their performance and mental wellbeing in the
future. Acquisition is researching the different and up to date psychological skills to learn the
skill and develop it over time. Having the knowledge of the techniques on how to improve the
psychological skill in everyday life will set a base which the client can build on to eventually lead
onto the practice stage. Practice is when you provide different environments and opportunities
for the client to use the PST techniques in their sport. Depending on the sport/activity the client
does, the way the psychological skill will be done will vary. The strategy used in the weekly
sessions should relate to the client's sport so they should be able to easily implement it before
their performance.
From getting to know the client, I have found that she has an active lifestyle, training 3 days a
week (2 hours a session). She has been trampolining for 4 years competitively and also does it
for pleasure as she finds it fun, which could be a factor that improves her motivation. She has
participated in 3 different competitions and has won 1. She seems to be at a high level and has
lots of ability, however, she left her club before entering college because “she didn't need it
anymore.”
The client suffers some psychological issues such as high stress, high anxiety and low self-
confident in everyday life. Even though she is confident about how she performs, having high
anxiety and stress will affect her performance no matter what. If she partakes in a PST
programme where she is able to lower her anxiety and stress, it will improve performance and
also improve her self-esteem as she will feel better about herself. A PST programme will also
help the athlete be more prepared to play and perform well by improving multiple psychological
skills that they may face. Having good psychological skills is shown to also improve
performance as Lea-Cathrin Dohme clarified that “psychological components purported to
facilitate athletic performance.” As she has participated in 3 competitions and only won 1, this
programme will allow her to win more as she will be more confident and less anxious.
There are 5 different psychological skills that can be used to improve performance which are:
self-talk, goal setting, arousal control, energising techniques and imagery. Self-talk strategies
are when you talk to yourself, either out loud or in your head, to combine conscious thoughts
, alongside your built-in belief. This is usually used to improve confidence and arousal control.
Goal setting is a process where you set a SMART target to be completed for yourself or a client.
It creates more concentration towards an end goal and can convince people to constantly work
towards it. It usually improves motivation and commitment. Arousal control is the ability to
control how relaxed you are and to find your optimal state. This can be done using relaxation
techniques such as muscular relaxation and hypnosis. Imagery is the process by which you can
modify, create or strengthen pathways that are important to the coordination to the mind and
body link. This can involve your senses of feel and touch to visualise an image in your mind. It is
usually done to improve concentration and self-confidence.Energising techniques are a
combination of multiple techniques which can include self-talk, verbal cues and controlled
breathing. It is where you either psych yourself up to become more energising or compose
yourself to become more relaxed and concentrated
My PST timeline consists of an initial baseline assessment, plan of the programme, completing
the programme, then assessing and reviewing it. In my baseline assessment, I will answer
simple questions about the client's lifestyle to get to know their strengths and areas of
improvements. I have decided to do performance profiling to see which qualities are poor and
need to be improved on. From these results, we have come to a conclusion to meet specific
targets regarding her performance which is to improve her concentration, endurance and
commitment. As I have multiple pieces of information on my client, I am able to plan the PST
programme.
Client / athlete name: Francesca
Assessor / sport psychologist name: Luka Chukwu
The following initial assessments were undertaken
1. Personality
2. Sport anxiety scale test
Results from assessment 1: Neurotic Extrovert
High anxiety, worrying, overthinking, self-conscious
Emotional shifts, positive and negative.
Changeable, active, restless, touchy
Anxiety, self-confidence, stress
