ABSTRACT
This chapter examines compensation in athletic sport. Bäckman and Dixon (1992) described a general model of compensation that is composed of components of external demand, personal expectation of performance, and accessible skill. They reasoned that compensation begins with a mismatch between demands and skill, with performance expectations initially matched to demand. Faced with an imbalance between demand and skill, three classes of option are available. First, a person can try to compensate by changing skill to match demand. Possible mechanisms include raising the level of effort, using latent aspects of skill, or finding an alternative skill. A second category of option is to compensate by changing expectations to match skill rather than demand. Third, noncompensatory options are not to change behavior at all, but to acquiesce with grace or rancour to the demand-skill discrepancy. Unlike the latter, both the compensatory options involve behavioral change that restores the balance between skill and expectations.
