In the proposed case study a high school girl’s basketball coach has picked up information on a new personality measure, the BPS (Basketball Personality Scale), which is reported to assess characteristics matching those of elite professional basketball players. As her colleague I would advise her against using the BPS with her team this upcoming season. My reasoning for telling her not to use the BPS is that the BPS assesses elite professional athletes, not high school athletes. High school athletes are not on the same skill level or maturity level as professional athletes so it’s hard to believe it’s an accurate assessment of high school athletes.
I agree with Diane L. Gill, author of Psychological Dynamics of Sport and Exercise Third Edition, and would tell her not to use the BPS but consider using the ACSI-28 or TOPS measure to evaluate psychological skills. The ACSI-28 (Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28) is a multidimensional measure of sport-specific psychological skills. The ACSI-28 contains seven subscales including: Coping with adversity, Peaking under pressure, Goal setting and mental preparation, Concentration, Freedom from worry, Confidence and achievement motivation, and Coachability.
The TOPS (Test of Performance Strategies) is a self-report measure of psychological skills and strategies used by athletes, similar to the ACSI-28. The TOPS contains eight subscales for practice and competition including: Goal setting, Relaxation, Activation, Imagery, Self-talk, Emotional control, Automaticity, Attention control (practice) and negative thinking (competition).
Of these two psychological measures I’d use the ACSI-28 measure to assess high school athletes. Although it may be meant to assess elite professional athletes I think the subscales can be a good assessment for high school athletes as well. The first subscale, peaking under pressure, assesses whether an athlete is challenged rather than threatened by pressure. These athletes perform well under pressure, for example having the ability to make a game winning shot or free throw. The second subscale, freedom of worry, assesses whether an athlete worries about making mistakes or performing poorly and what others will think if he/she does. I think this one of the most important subscales in the ACSI-28 measure when it comes to high school athletes. The third subscale, coping with adversity, assesses an athlete’s ability to stay positive, calm, and collected when things are going badly. For example when losing a game these athletes are able to stay motivated and “keep their head in the game” or in a practice environment these athletes are able to continue to better themselves no matter the situation. The forth subscale, concentration, assesses the athletes ability to stay focused in either a game or practice situation. For example, an athlete’s ability to not become distracted by factors outside the game, like the opponents crowd when shooting free throws. The fifth subscale, goal setting and mental preparation, assesses athletes ability to set goals and work toward accomplishing those goals. Subscale five also assesses an athlete’s ability to prepare oneself for competition. The sixth subscale, confidence and achievement motivation assesses an athlete’s ability to stay confident and positively motivated no matter the situation. For example, these athletes continue to give 100 percent during practice and games while continually working hard towards improving skills. The last subscale is coachability. Coachability assesses an athlete’s ability to accept criticism without taking it personally or become upset. These athletes for example are able to learn from instruction to better their skill level. When assessing high school athletes I think coachability is extremely important considering the majority of the athletes guidance comes from coaches.
After reviewing the ACSI-28 measure I think it is a much better way to assess the psychological skill level of high school athletes compared to the BPS measure. By identifying strength areas using the ACSI-28 measure the coach can improve team effectiveness and team cohesiveness.
Gill, D.L., & Williams, L. (2008). Psychological dynamics of sport and exercise (3rd Ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
Smith, R.E., Schultz, R.W, Smoll, F.L., & Ptacek, J.T. (1995). Development and validation of Multidimensional measure of sport-specific psychological skills: The Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psycology, 17, 379-398.
Thomas, Murphy, & Hardy. (1999). Test of performance strategies: Development and preliminary validation of a comprehensive measure of athletes' psychological skills. Journal of Sports Sciences, 17, 697-711.
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