![]() ![]() Athena interviewees in this study demonstrated a strong sense of self-empowerment and attributed it to their experience as members of active triathlon and multisport communities. The experiences of Athena triathletes remind us of the very real structural barriers that mainstream culture produces to constrain, limit, and reduce women’s bodily capacities, rendering women’s bodies as objects. This is perhaps best demonstrated by Athena triathletes, the category of women racers who compete at a weight of at least 165 lb. Suggestions are offered for wingsuit pilots, practitioners, and future research.Įmbodied subjectivity and athletic performativity require both mind and body to work together to achieve athletic goals and move beyond cultural barriers. #Ful focus get fit stay full be focused professionalThe findings illustrate the value of including extreme sports in sport psychology research and add to the growing body of literature that depicts the extreme sport athlete as a dedicated professional athlete. All themes are illustrated through narrative accounts and interpreted according to both second and third wave cognitive-behavioral approaches to sport psychology. Moreover, pilots shared their mindset for safe and optimal long-term progression and participation in the sport of wingsuit flying. Several sources and methods for the development of mental skills and techniques were identified, mainly outside the formal mental skills training mode. There was particular emphasis on the mental skill of self-awareness. The stories shared by the pilots reveal that they apply a wealth of mental skills and techniques known in the field of sport psychology, both for optimal performance and for safe practice. Six experienced wingsuit pilots were interviewed according to a narrative paradigm. Few previous studies have looked at the mental skills and techniques used by extreme sport athletes and no study inquired into their development. This qualitative study was designed to explore the mental skills and techniques as well as their development in the extreme sport of wingsuit flying. The way in which the athletes are able to compete at an elite level, despite reporting debilitative interpretations, is also discussed. ![]() Possible explanations as to why these elite performers consistently reported negative interpretations related to mental preparation and effectiveness, psychological skills, coping strategies, perceptions of control, and perceived self-confidence levels. ![]() Findings indicated that the participants reported early debilitating symptoms, which became habituated throughout their respective careers. Four general dimensions traced the participants’ precompetitive states and mental skills from early competitive experiences to the present day. Data were drawn from verbatim transcripts and the content analysed. Six male athletes, from a variety of sports (M age = 23.3, SD=2.2), who were currently competing within the UK, were found to hold debilitative interpretations. Interviews were used to investigate elite athletes’ precompetitive thoughts, feelings, and mental strategies underlying symptom interpretation. Research has not accounted for a small but significant proportion of elite performers who consistently report debilitative interpretations of competitive anxiety-related symptoms. Experimental research examining the efficacy of interventions that help endurance athletes to cope with the reported psychological demands is encouraged. Interventions that could be delivered to recreational athletes, who do not typically have access to a sport psychologist, are suggested. Seven themes captured demands that were commonly experienced away from the competitive environment (time investment and lifestyle sacrifices, commitment to training sessions, concerns about optimising training, and exercise sensations during training), preceding an endurance event (pre-event stressors), or during an event (exercise sensations, optimising pacing, and remaining focused despite adversity). An inductive thematic analysis was used to identify psychological demands that were experienced across sports, distances, and competitive levels. Focus group interviews were conducted with 30 recreational endurance athletes of various sports (running, cycling, and triathlon), distances, and competitive levels to explore the psychological demands of training, competition preparation, and competition participation. This study aimed to identify psychological demands that are commonly experienced by endurance athletes so that these demands could inform the design of performance-enhancing psychological interventions for endurance athletes. ![]()
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