Two interventions to enhance functional athletic performance: design of a randomized controlled trial

INTERVENTION: After a first contact and checking for inclusion and exclusion criteria (time 0), athletes will be stratified for gender, sport, and performance level, then randomly assigned to one of following three groups, and will be informed about their experimental condition: 1. Psychological skills training (PST): imagery, self‐talk, goal‐setting, arousal regulation 2. Mindfulness‐based intervention (MI): mindful meditation, body scan, yoga 3. Waiting‐list control group (WC) The study is single‐centre (all sessions will conducted at the center for elite sports of the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport). The interventions will be realized in groups of six athletes each, leading to six sub‐groups in each condition (6 x 6 = 36 athletes, see power analysis). A manual will accompany the instructions for the interventions. All components of both interventions must be administered according to the manual’s specifications by a trained sport psychologist. Two independent raters will evaluate the adherence to each intervention on the basis of video recordings. In addition to psycho‐education and practice at home guided by audio files that can be played on computers or portable devices such as smart phones. All participants will also be provided with a calendar of their exercises to tick off as they are completed, and daily text messages will remind them to practice their PST or mindfulness exercises. Each intervention consists of four 2‐hour sessions over the course of 5 weeks. Participants will be advised to practice daily and record their amount of practice. CONDITION: Functional behavior in athletes ; Not Applicable PRIMARY OUTCOME: Functional athletic behavior (FAB) assessed using ambulatory assessment (during games and competitions) before and after the intervention (pre‐post) as well as at two months follow up (three timepoints in total). SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. Cognitive interference, competition anxiety, and negative outcome expectations measured by the according subscales of the Thought Occurrence Questionnaire (TOQS) and the Competition Anxiety Inventory State (CAI‐S); 2. Objective measures of performance will be win/lose, points scored, unforced errors etc, subjective measures will be assessed using a single item (how well did you perform?); ; Secondary outcome will be measured directly before and after the intervention (pre‐post), as well as at two months follow up (three timepoints in total) INCLUSION CRITERIA: Elite, sub‐elite, and recreational athletes from four sports (curling, volleyball, i.e., indoor and beach, tennis, and hockey, i.e., floorball and ice hockey), who are members of the respective Swiss national sport associations