Take me into the ball game: an examination of a brief psychological skills training and mindfulness-based intervention with baseball players

ABSTRACT

Baseball is considered to be a mentally demanding sport requiring effective management of psychological factors. Stress management, resilience, coping, flow and mindfulness have shown to be related to positive performance outcomes. To date, there is scarcity of research regarding the effectiveness of short duration integrated Psychological Skills Training (PST) and mindfulness interventions with baseball players. This mixed-method study examined the effects of a six-session integrated PST and mindfulness intervention on a U.S.A. NCAA Division I collegiate baseball team’s (n = 25; ages 18–22, M = 19.29, SD = 3.44) stress, resilience, athletic coping skills, flow, mindfulness and athletes’ perceptions of the intervention. Paired sample t-test revealed statistically significant decreases in stress and increases in resilience, athletic coping skills, mindfulness and dimensions of flow following the intervention. Qualitative data obtained through final reflective journals revealed athletes’ overall positive perceptions of the intervention and applicability not only to baseball, but also different aspects of life. These results provide encouraging support for the utilization of brief integrated mental training intervention with collegiate baseball players.

KEYWORDS:

• Mindfulness
• psychological skills training
• collegiate baseball players
• stress
• resilience
• athletic coping skills
• flow

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).