Mount Saint Marys University Squeeze Those Glutes Case study answers there is an attached case study Called (Squeeze Those Glutes) you have to read it and

Mount Saint Marys University Squeeze Those Glutes Case study answers there is an attached case study Called (Squeeze Those Glutes) you have to read it and respond as per instructions below The purpose of this exercise is for you to apply what you have reviewed so far to an actual case study. In reviewing the attached case study you are to adopt the role of a Sport Psychologist / Consultant and provide advice to me the assistant coach.

To guide the discussion the following question guide is offered. Students may use this guide to provide advice to me.

I will attach the questions bellow as a word file you must answer each question in paragraphs. You must read the case and answer the questions.

the case study will be attacked as a pdf and questions are attached bellow as a word file, i will also attach one of the students work so you can see how the structure is as a sample. Athletic  Insight  –  If  an  athlete  asks  whether  it  is  realistic  to  think  that  he  or  
she  can  be  an  All-­Conference,  All-­Canadian,  or  All-­Pro    given  a  modest  past  
performance,  a  good  coach  or  sport  psychologist  might  respond  by  saying,  “I  have  
no  idea,  and  I  don’t  care”.  I  want  to  help  you  find  out  if  you  can  be  great.  A  good  
coach  or  sport  psychologist  might  say  that  to  help  the  athlete  believe  they  can  be  
great  and  then  find  out  if  they  can  be…Let’s  get  into  possibilities  and  not  
probabilities…In  short,  do  not  create  artificial  limits.    
 
Squeeze those Gluts1
“  Diana,  Stop!!!”  Coach  Francis  yells,  “What  is  going  on?  Why  is  your  routine  not  
coming  together?  I  want  you  to  take  a  minute,  think,  and  then  go  for  it.”  
A  minute  or  two  later,  walking  back  towards  the  beam,  the  coach  tells  Diana,  “get  
off  the  beam,  and  come  here.  I  know  you  can  do  it,  you’ve  done  all  these  tricks  
before.  What’s  wrong  now?”  
“My  body  just  won’t  go,  Coach,”  Diana  replies.  “I’m  not  letting  myself  go.  I  try  to  
think  about  the  trick,  and  when  I  believe  I’m  ready,  I  just  can’t  go”.    
“Are  you  afraid?”  
“No,  no,  I’m  not  afraid,  but  I  want  to  make  it  perfect.”  
As  a  child  Diana  was  one  of  those  kids  who  loved  to  run  and  jump  all  over  the  
house.  She  played  softball  and  took  jazz  dance  and  ballet  classes,  but  she  still  had  
too  much  energy  when  she  came  home.  When  Diana  was  12  years  old,  her  
mother  decided  to  get  her  involved  in  gymnastics.  She  hoped  that  her  daughter  
would  tumble  on  a  trampoline  instead  of  her  bed  and  the  sofas,  and  balance  on  
                                                                                                                         
1
 Adapted  from  Bob  Rotella  (1998)Case  Studies  in  Sport  Psychology,  Jones  and  Bartlett,  New  York  
 
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the  balance  beam  instead  of  the  wooden  fence.  Diana  loved  it  from  the  very  first  
day.  She  quyit  everything  else  and  devoted  herself  to  gymnastics.  
Her  first  gymnastics  coach  was  a  wonderful  Romanian  man  who  had  worked  with  
nadia  Comaneci  before  Bela  Karolyi  took  over.  Working  with  Coach  Pavel  meant  a  
lot  to  Diana,  and  she  learned  a  lot  from  him.    
At  the  age  of  16,  she  joined  a  new  gymnastics  club  team.  Her  new  coach  had  a  
negative  attitude,  and  there  wass  no  team  spirit.  Coach  Olin  was  rough  with  the  
athletes  and  believed  in  “no  pian,  no  gain”.    No  routine  ever  seemed  good  enough  
to  him.  Diana  did  not  like  the  new  environment,  but  she  loved  gymnastics  enough  
to  stay  with  the  team  until  she  moved  away  for  college.  
 She was recruited by Sithonia College (SC), a Division III school. SC has a great
reputation for preparing future professionals in the health and physical education
area. Attending SC, Diana would have the chance to start for the gymnastics team
and also work through a very strong physical education academic program. Diana
started competing in the all-around event during her freshman year. She competed
in all of the Division III national championships during her freshman, sophomore
and junior years. As a junior, she was awarded All-American Honors. This year,
Diana is a senior and the captain of the women’s gymnastic team.
Diana has a chronic problem with her wrists due to weak joints, and the pain has
been gradually increasing. She has been performing with supporting braces on both
wrists since her freshman year, but on the bars and vault the pressure and pain had
become unbearable. During her junior year, Diana and her head coach decided that
she should stop competing on the bars and vault. Diana was not happy with this
decision, but she had no other choice.
Even with her nagging injury, Diana almost always wore a smile on her face.
Coach Francis often said she had never known a gymnast with a bigger smile.
Especially on the floor, Diana’s specialty, she would move around as if her whole
body were smiling. Diana just dazzled the judges with her floor exercise. At 5’4”
and very fit, Diana tumbled and turned on her megawatt smile, while a huge white
 
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and maroon hair ribbon mimicked her every step. One of her teammates even
kidded Diana that the ribbons and her ear-t-ear grin were worth at least .025 points
from the judges!
When Diana started at SC, she enjoyed working with Coach Francis, but recently
Diana has sensed that things are changing. Diana feels as if the coach has no time
for her. Diana’s diary entries this year illustrate her growing concern. “Monday,
more ‘dirty looks’ from Coach. Coach Francis is good. She is a little autocratic, but
she always knows what she is doing. She may have her favorites in the gym, but I
know deep down she cares for all of us. It’s just that she does a poor job of
expressing it,” she wrote.
Now that Diana is a senior, she wants to make her last year asa college gymnast a
great one. She has her heart set on being a great team captain and qualifying for
Nationals. She also hopes to compete in the all-around again. She would love to
finish her career as a great all-around gymnast, the best on the team.
Since the start of her senior year, Diana has been experiencing some difficulties
with her performance. Suddenly, she misses the tricks and moves that she used to
perform easily. Her physical condition is not the problem: She is as fit as she has
ever been. Her thinking is what is causing her difficulty. Two thoughts cross her
mind before executing the tricks “it has to be perfect,” and to a lesser extent,
“What if my wrists don’t make it through the pressure?”
She is keeping a diary, for practices as well as meets. Every day she writes down
what she did in practice, how it was, and how she felt. This log helps her keep
track of everything that goes on in the gym. She notes things she could not execute
and tricks that she did well. Late in September, she wrote, “These two aerials on
the beam have to come together soon; I don’t have much time left. I have to
connect them smoothly, but I can’t do it. I work hard, I stay after practice, but they
are not coming together.”
This log has been with her at all practices and meets and is one of her rituals.
Lately, she has had hard time keeping up with it. She wants to keep this part of her
 
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routine, like the one Tootsie Roll that she treats herself to before performing in a
meet.
After some incidents where Diana could not execute her routine, Coach
Francis called a meeting with Assistant Coach Reap. “Do you have thoughts or
suggestions about Diana?” Coach Francis asked. “You’ve worked with her the last
three years. She trusts you, do you see a way to help her with her performance?”
“I think the problem is how Diana sees gymnastics,” Coach Reap replied.
“Gymnastics is the center of her life. If everything goes okay with gymnastics, then
she’s fine. If something goes wrong, however, everything goes wrong!”
Apparently, this rule even governs Diana’s relationships. Her boyfriend, Marc told
Coach Reap that her obsession for perfect gymnastic performance has strained
their relationship terribly. “If I weren’t a perfectionist in athletics myself, I don’t
think we’d still be dating. I try to respect her commitment, but sometimes she is
beyond any limitations. She has her goals set, and nothing can get her mind off
them. Lately, she is more obsessed with her goals. I try to stay next to her and give
her all the support I can. I think this is what she needs from me now.”
Coach Francis decided to call Diana in for a meeting. She wanted to ask her what
she sees as the problem. Diana told her she doesn’t really know what is going
wrong. She talked about two thoughts that often cross her mind and that she “just
can’t let go.” When talking to Coach Francis, she mentioned her difficulty with
visualization, describing it in this way: “I used to close my eyes and see myself
doing it, executing the routine and each of the tricks. I could feel my body moving,
flying. Now I can’t!”
Coach Francis suggested to Diana that she forget her goals for a minute. “Get out
of there and just perform, and bring that smile back, Diana!” After two meetings ,
Coach Francis now believes that Diana has become over analytical in the gym,
with herself and with her teammates. She needs to release and let go. “You have
the potential for something great, but only if you stop thinking,” Coach Francis
said to Diana at the end of their meeting. Somehow, Diana didn’t appear
convinced.
 
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Recently, Diana has started thinking negative thoughts about herself. Her
confidence is shaky sometimes, like when Coach posted the prefinal lineup for this
year’s first meet. Her name was not on the list, and she was very upset. She
believed that she was more ready than some of the women who were in the lineup
and that Coach Francis was not being fair. “After all, the coach has not seen all my
routines lately,” Diana pleaded to Coach Reap.
Diana believes that her motivation has greatly suffered, but she does not want to let
anybody down, especially herself. She can understand that not everybody has the
same level of commitment, but being the Captain she has to try her best. When
Diana sees the women of the team forming cliques and cheering only for their
buddies, she gets upset. Not everybody perceives the team spirit concept in the
same way! Her attitude, her work ethic, and her performance have to be “the best.”
Two months after Diana started her senior year, Coach Francis called asked me as
a sport psychology consultant, to meet with Diana. After meeting with the
gymnast, Coach Francis thought she could use some help with her thinking
process. The next day in the gym, she asked Diana if she would like to meet with
me to talk about her recent difficulties. Diana says yes, she was willing to try
anything that could help her performance.
“Diana is the Captain of our team,” Coach Francis told me. “We need her, but I’m
not sure how far I can trust her. She has had these mental blocks since last spring.
Then, however, the blocks were not so bad, and I could work through them. I try to
help her now, but nothing seems to work. I let her work alone, and she complains
to Coach Reap that I don’t care. She’s obviously obsessed with trying to reach her
goals! At some point I think she’s scared of the freshman on the team. Being the
Captain has placed a lot of pressure on her, I’m sure. I really don’t know how to
handle her anymore. Can you help though? I can give you her number.” Coach
Francis said to me, with the not-so-subtle desperation in her voice.
 
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a. Describe the main issues in this case
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Diana joined a gymnastic club at the age of 16 where her coach had a negative attitude,
he believe that if there is no pain, there is no gain and that have affected Diana in the
present time where she couldn’t do some of the tricks that she used to be capable of
doing.
She had a chronic problem with her wrists due to weak joints where the pain was
increasing gradually and that might have affected her performance.
One of the psychological issue that Diana has experienced was not being able to do the
tricks and moves that she used to be able to do due to thinking about her wrist injury and
it must be done perfectly.
What may have affected Diana’s poor performance would be not focusing completely
during practice time as her couch said that “Gymnastics is the center of her life. If
everything goes okay with gymnastics, then she’s fine. If something goes wrong,
however, everything goes wrong!”
The main issue is that Diana doesn’t believe in her potential that her body have the ability
to do these tricks. She’s trapped inside her own thoughts.
b. What factors contribute to Diana’s poor performance in Gymnastics?
1. Diana’s coach was rough on her and her team members; he had a negative attitude and no
team spirit. Nothing seemed good enough for him even if Diana was working hard on
herself. He believed in “no pain, no gain.”
2. Due to weak joints Diana had an increasing pain in her wrists which made her wear
supporting braces for her wrists. This condition made it hard on her to use bars and vault
due to unbearable pain caused by adding pressure on her wrists.
3. When one of her teammates kidded her about the ribbons and the ear-t-ear as a way of
earning extra points; that may have lead Diana to think that she didn’t earn those point by
her own effort.
4. Feeling that her coach has no time for her.
5. Negative thinking about her body’s ability to do the tricks has lead to poor performance
by her because she has already convinced herself in her mind that she can’t do it.
6. Thinking that everything has to be perfect or the tricks and moves might not work due to
her wrist injury.
7. Seeing gymnastics as the centre of her life and believing in if nothing goes as perfect as
she want; everything in her life is just wrong.
8. Difficulty in visualizing how her performance will be and a shaky self-esteem.
9. Worrying about doing it perfectly more than just enjoying the game.
10. Main factor would be she’s under a lot of pressure because she’s the captain of her team
and she should be a good role model for her team members.
c. As the Sport Psychology Consultant, generate some courses of action that might
benefit Diana
– Diana should focus more on being part of the game and just enjoying her time without
worrying about how much her performance should be perfect.
– Try to write positive thoughts on her diary about the game, her performance, her coach
and team members.
– Instead of focusing on the negative things in everyone like the coach when she was 16;
try to think about it from a different perspective which is the coach is being rough on us
because he wants us to feel the taste of winning.
– Come regularly and talk about how she felt about her performance after the game.
– Setting goals before the game.
– Believing in her potential and ability.
– Turning every negative thought into a positive thought.
– Practice!
d. How feasible is each course of action?
Well, each course of action can be achieved if Diana focuses on just having a good time and
being thankful for the ability to do what she’s passionate about. By practicing on her moves
and tricks Diana would be able to improve her performance and complete them effortlessly
only if she clears her mind and be stress free. What would help her overcome her anxiety and
obsession to have everything perfectly done would be first of all, asking for her family’s
support, boyfriend’s support, writing positive feedback about herself in her diary, focusing
more on goals she has achieved even if they were small goals but they would make her feel
good about herself. Another thing that Diana could do as the captain of her team is to practice
with her team members, building friendship with her team members and gaining their trust
would help their team talk about what difficulties they’re facing during the game by having
weekly meetings. If Diana goes regularly to a sport psychologist she would talk about
whatever that makes her feel she’s not achieving what she wants whether in life or as a
gymnast, by discussing these things it will help her change her perspective and make her
believe in her potential that she can do it and it’s all about her mind controlling her or
stopping her from achieving her goal.
e. What are the ramifications for me and Diana for each course of action?
The outcome for each course of action for Diana would be boosting her confidence and self
esteem. Feeling good about her performance even if it wasn’t done perfectly and having her
family’s and boyfriend’s support after understanding what she’s going through. By practicing
on her own or with her team members it would help improve their performance and by
practicing more without being hard on herself, Diana could achieve new goals and go beyond
her ability which would make her proud of herself. It’s all about the way she think, if Diana
doesn’t over think about every move she do and just release and let go, she could achieve
something that is really great. The outcome of all of this for Diana would be having the best
attitude, work ethic and performance achieved effortlessly. For me as a sport psychologist if I
helped Diana to overcome her problem I would feel good about myself that I was able to let
someone feel happy and confident about their performance whether it’s done perfectly or not
because it’s all about enjoying the sport and discovering what your body is able to do without
putting any psychological boundaries.
f. Are Diana’s goals too demanding? How would you help her refocus her goals?
No, Diana’s goals are not too demanding. It’s expected from every athlete to go over anxiety
and stress about the game, their performance and their ability.
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Believing that she’s a strong woman based on what she has achieved by being the
Captain of her team.
Even though she had wrists injuries she was able to compete which shows that she’s a
passionate committed person.
Talking to a sport psychologist regularly would help her refocus her goals and think
positively instead of over thinking.
g. What affect, if any does Diana’s practice log have on her performance and attitude
about gymnastics?
Diana has always kept a positive attitude towards gymnastics, her performance wasn’t the
best she can present because she kept over thinking about her ability and that everything
must be done perfectly and what if she can’t do it due to her wrist injury. All of that have
affected her performance. But when it comes for her attitude Diana has always has her heart
set on being a great team captain and qualifying for nationals. She was ambitious to finish
her career as a great all-around gymnast.
h. What other information would you need if you were to work with Diana?
I would want to know more about her family, the en…
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