Performance profiling and predictive validity

Abstract

Based on the principles of Personal Construct Theory (Kelly, 1955), performance profiling has been proposed as a means of understanding an athlete's perspective of his or her own notions of self and performance. This study represents the first attempt to validate the use of a quantitative performance profile technique within track and field athletics. Participants consisted of thirty-nine track and field athletes regularly presenting for training and competition (22 male, 17 female: mean age = 20.9, SD = 2.26). Participants completed their profile prior to three intra-season competitions. Correlation and linear regression analyses results provided support for the validity and predictive ability between profile ratings and performance, but also suggested that the profile should not be used unreservedly. Progressively stronger relationships were found from competition one to three. The latter may be associated with an accommodation phase to accuracy of profiling. This suggests that the technique should involve a baseline collection period.