The Effect of Psychological Skills Training on Emotion, Self-Esteem, Flow and Perceived Performance of University Player

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of psychological skill training on emotion, self-esteem, flow, and perceived performance of a collegiate baseball player. The subject of this single-case experimental study was a collegiate baseball athlete who returned to the field after rehabilitation due to injuries during exercise. For the study, four measures (positive/negative emotion scale, self-esteem inventory, exercise flow scale, and perceived performance inventory) were developed and utilized to verify the effectiveness of the psychological skill training program based on previous studies, expert opinion, and interview data of research participants. The psychological skill training program in this study consisted of following four: (1) relaxation training, (2) image training, (3) self-esteem training, and (4) routine training. The training was conducted in eight sessions (about 60 minutes per session) after the baseline phase. The results of this study were as follows. First, it was confirmed that the psychological skill training program improved the positive emotions and reduced the negative emotions of the player. Second, the participant in the study felt that his self-esteem has enhanced through this training program. Third, the training program contributed to fostering the athlete’s exercise flow. Lastly, the participant recognized the improvement of performance through this training program.