ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to examine the role that mental skills training plays in promoting a range of positive psychosocial and performance outcomes in women's college soccer players. This model conceptualizes that traditional mental training tools and skills are antecedents/predictors of athletes' sport enjoyment, whereas other mental skills and performance are consequences/products of healthy sport enjoyment. Following the mental skills training (MST) Education, Acquisition, and Implementation Phase model, treatment athletes were introduced to traditional mental training tools and skills, followed by an overview to this study's working intervention approach. The intervention's focus on process and performance goals, combined with positive self-talk, and may well have supported this trend among development-focused athletes in the treatment group, whereas these skills were not purposefully developed in the control group. This study can provide coaches with some initial rationale for including mental skills training and components of intrinsic sport enjoyment in their practice design, motivational climate, and athlete-development strategies.
