Sport Psychology: Strategies and Skills for Effective Decision Making

This article explores the application of game theory and other motivational models in sport psychology. It discusses the case of David, a gymnast struggling with confidence and commitment, and provides strategies and skills for effective decision making and motivation. The article emphasizes the importance of emotional control and needs management in sports and offers insights into how these theories can be applied to improve David's situation.

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SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY
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Introduction
David is a gymnast in Sydney. He is 13-years-old. Other than gymnast, he is also a trampolinist.
He tried gymnastics for the first time at the age of 6 years. Ever since, he has developed his
gymnast skills greatly. He performs well not only in sports, but also in academics. He is a very
hardworking student as he tries to maintain a balance between sports and academics. Apart from
being hardworking, he is also a good decision maker despite struggling with dyslexia. In addition
to gymnast and trampoline, he is also interested in art and culture.
However, David has started to change drastically. Some of the changes include low confidence.
Other than low confidence, his commitment has also reduced, hence going late in training.
Moreover, he has also been struggling in his academics to maintain his grades, thus ending up
being embarrassed in one way or the other.
Regarding David’s goal, he is determined to maintain his grades as well as pursuing selection of
national level coaching. His psychological needs include; competence and autonomy. Regarding
autonomy, he requires freedom, hence making his own choices. On the other hand, competence
is concerned with improving skills (Ryan and Deci, 2017). Hence, he needs to sacrifice his time
for training and encouraged by his coach. The primary aim of David is pursuing selection of
national level coaching, therefore require immediate attention. The main purpose of
psychological support program is to help David to increase his confidence so that he can
participate in the upcoming selection events effectively. Besides, it will also help David to have
positive attitude towards his academics, hence maintaining his grades at school.
There are several clinical warning signs in my case. The following are some of them; becoming
frustrated, struggling in career and late talking. Most of these signs are as a result of Dyslexia.

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Hence, it will be important for David to visit nearby medical center for diagnosis. Also, I will
advise his family and friends to provide him with additional support so that these warning signs
can be reduced. However, David’s background will play some important roles in my
intervention. Some of the background information include supportive family.
Theoretical foundations of the intervention
Firstly, game theory is relevant to David’s situation. It focuses on decision making. It involves
decisions that are made by two or more people (Myerson, 2013). These decisions should
influence all the people positively. Hence, this theory uses empathy whereby a decision should
be made by considering other people whom it will affect directly (Colman, 2013). The game
theory’s primitive concepts include; players, strategies and payoffs. In my case, players are
David, his family members, coaches and friends. On the other hand, strategies include various
available alternative from which each player can choose from. Finally, payoffs are related to
players’ preferences (Myerson, 2013). The following are some of the assumptions of this theory;
consistent preferences is attributed to all players and all players have common knowledge
regarding their preference, game specification and rationality. This theory requires players to act
rationally in their day-to-day sports activities. It will enable David’s family members, coaches
and friends to make better decisions, hence impacting positively on David’s side. Regarding
recent researches that were carried on different participants, it was revealed that the game’s
theory is almost 90% effective (Colman, 2013). On my views, this theory has greater chances of
success when applied to David’s situation.
Apart from game theory, Two-factor theory, which is one of the motivational models, is also
relevant to David’s situation. It focuses on various ways of encouraging people so that they can
be able to achieve their goals (Evans, McPherson and Davidson, 2013, p.603). It entails both

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motivators and de-motivators. However, these two factors are dispensable, hence working
independently (Dartey-Baah and Amoako, 2011, p.3). For instance, motivators such as rewards
can encourage David to maintain his grades in school as well as participating in the training
actively. In contrast, absence of rewards may not cause dissatisfaction in most cases. On the
other hand, de-motivator factors such as weak reward increases dissatisfaction. In contrast, lack
of weak reward may not increase satisfaction. Both factors need to be considered in order to
motivate David. For instance, coaches need to make David feel appreciated and treat him well.
The first act will motivate David, while the latter will prevent dissatisfaction. Regarding recent
researches that were carried on different participants, it was revealed that the two-factor theory is
almost 80% effective (Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl and Maude, 2017, p.13). On my views, this
theory has equally greater chances of being effective. However, the game theory is more
effective.
Other than Two-factor theory, expectancy theory is another motivational model that is relevant to
David’s situation. This theory suggests that outcomes influences people’s behavior. Hence,
people are expected to behave differently depending on what they expect to achieve (Cucui and
Cucui, 2014, p.67). It consists of the following three models; expectancy, instrumentality and
valence. In David’s situation, expectancy is concerned with his own beliefs that he will achieve
his goals. It focuses on his efforts. On the other hand, instrumentality is concerned with David’s
belief that he will be rewarded after performing well in his studies as well as sports activities
while valence is related to the value that David will get. Instrumentality focuses on performance
while valence focuses on rewards (Solomon and Lobinger, 2011, p.47). In this theory, David is
motivated greatly through his belief that he will be rewarded after achieving some desired goals.
In David’s situation, his coaches should provide him with relevant examples that shows there are

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high chances of achieving desired goals, hence increasing his confidence. Also, they should
provide fair rewards to David and explain to him about some of the ways in which the desired
goals can be attained. Regarding recent researches that were carried on different participants, it
was revealed that the expectancy theory is almost 85% effective (Solomon and Lobinger, 2011,
p.55). On my views, this theory will also bear fruits once it has been applied in David’s situation.
However, the game theory is still the best. It is the most rational theory that can be applied in
David’s situation. It will help him to make better decisions that impact positively on his coaches
as well as family members and friends, hence maximizing his progress towards achieving
desirable goals.
The intervention
I’ve selected the game theory in David’s situation. However, it will require some strategies and
skills for effective implementation. Some of the strategies include the following; controlling of
emotions and managing needs. Emotion control is an important strategy since decision-making
process is one of the emotional events (Light, Harvey and Mouchet, 2014, p.260). To achieve
emotional control, David should avoid unnecessary noise while making decisions. This means
that the decision-making process should not be affected by other feelings. Besides, he should
also try his level best to stay calm in every situation and events. For instance, sudden movements
leads to poor decisions. Moreover, he should visualize outcomes of decisions before taking any
step further (Smits, Pepping and Hettinga, 2014, p.765). He should try to figure out effects of his
decisions on other people such as his coaches and friends. For instance, he should plan his
activities well to avoid lateness in training, hence impacting positively on the coaches’ side.
Regarding needs management, it is also equally an important strategy in David’s situation.
Hence, he needs to maintain high level of confidence while making his decisions.

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Other than strategies, the following are some of the skills that he should develop; empathy,
reasoning and information gathering skills. Regarding empathy, David should put himself in
other people’s shows before making some important decisions in life. Thus, impacting positively
on other parties such as coaches and family members who can be affected with his decisions
directly. On the other hand, reasoning skills involves the practice of thinking critically and
selecting the best and optimal alternative among those that are available depending on the
particular situation (Causer and Ford, 2014, p.386). Finally, information gathering skills will
enable David to collect information regarding the needs of other people such as coaches, hence
facilitating decision making process. The following are some of the examples of situations that
needs to change; lateness in training, unnecessary mistakes in training and poor co-ordination
with coaches.
Regarding EAP acronym, education entails the process of receiving instructions especially in the
school setting. It also involves learning. On the other hand, acquisition involves the process of
acquiring knowledge. Hence, David should receive and acquire knowledge simultaneously.
Finally, practice is related to the application of knowledge that has been acquired to solve
problems and make better decisions (Ryan and Deci, 2017). The chance of my intervention to
work is 90%. I’ve conducted some research from related cases and estimated accordingly.
However, I will monitor David from time to time to ensure than his situation keeps on improving
rather than deteriorating day in day out. This will be measured by keeping track of the time that
he attends training and also his performance on academics (Bruhn, McDaniel and Kreigh, 2015,
p.103). For instance, David will be attending the training on time, hence this will be a clear
indication that my intervention has been implemented effectively. Regarding confidence level,
I’ll be asking him some questions concerning his personal views on the upcoming selection

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event. Positive replies indicates that his confidence level has increased, hence my intervention
will be useful in some ways.

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