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Psychometric Testing of Athletes

Psychometric testing has become more and more popular over the past decade. The most common forms of psychometrics include personality tests and aptitude tests. While these tests attempt to objectively evaulate attitudes and values, there is still quite a bit of subjectivity to them both.

These tests are what is known as a 'self-report' assessment. In other words, the athlete reports on how they think that they would act in a given situation. For example, if I was looking to add on another soccer player on my team and you were the top candidate for the position, I would simply call you on the phone and ask you about your soccer skills. I would also ask you questions such as how would you react when down one goal and your defensive back just got a red card with twenty minutes to go that was not his fault.

Now hopefully you would provide truthful answers but this is unlikely. Why? Two main reasons include your answers can be biased based on what qualities you believe that I am looking for. Secondly, most individuals actually do not know their own strengths and weaknesses, so to ask someone to provide a self-report may not be the best choice.

If I want to know how well you play soccer, talking to you on the phone will not exactly help me out in my cause. The optimal choice is to actually evaluate you playing soccer and I can then determine for myself your playing abilities.

Psychometrics (self-report) is not the same as the Sports Profile, based on axiology. In fact, valuemetrics is a method of measurement in it's own class. Below is a recent email sent to me by Dr. Dave Medford of the Value Resource Group discussing the difference between the two:

"Axiology or the axiological assessment is not psycho-metrics but rather axio-metrics. Our axiological sports assessment is a compliment to psychology – as a matter of fact “axiological psychology” is becoming a field of study in its own right. Leon Pomeroy’s book is called, The New Science of Axiological Psychology and he is a well respected clinical psychologist currently teaching psychology at George Mason University.

Psychology mainly centers on the emotional conditioning and takes the perspective of the athlete’s emotional stability or fragility (Freud, Skinner). The axiological assessment measures the interface between the athlete’s mental understanding and the athlete’s emotional conditioning – taking the perspective of concept fulfillment.

We ask, how strong is the athlete’s self-concept or self-image, and to what degree is he or she fulfilling that concept. In other words, we measure the athlete’s potential and how much of it the athlete is currently accessing or utilizing. Then, after the assessment, we try to find ways to help the athlete access and utilize more of their potential."

So is psychometric testing bad? Not at all, but in my opinion valuemetrics (the Sports Profile) provides a much more objective look into the decision making pattern of the athletes. This is achieved by having the athlete apply his/her value system and complete a specific task (thinking) versus taking a test.

More on this topic coming soon!

Case Study of an Injured Pro Player

Injuries are a given in professional sport. But how does an injury affect a player's mentality? How well can he cope with his situation? What specifically is he focused on? How does the coaching staff deal with the mental side of a player's 'return to play' program? These questions and many others are asked when a highly talented player gets hurt. As you will read below, a professional club just experienced this exact scenario.

Recently a professional club had a fairly new player take the Sports Profile. The player is a young man that the club feels has tremendous potential and has already proven himself at the younger national team levels. Although an initial starter, however, the club has yet to really see the player's performance as he was hurt the majority of his first season. The club was trying to determine how best to ensure this young man was in peak performance during the 2008 season

Let's take a look at a few of the player's profile results in the world view (his decision making as it relates to other people, places, and things):

• Game Intelligence- very good


• Sense of Game Reality- very good


• Emotional Control- very good
  
• Understanding Others- very good


• Interpersonal Harmony- (-100%) growth area


• Interpersonal Conflict- (+ 100%) excellent

The scores above reflect a player with great mind speed and will not let his emotions clould his decision making on the field. While he can read others very well, he will not praise them for good efforts and will magnify the negative. In other words, he has extremely high expectations of others.

• Understanding Practical Team Actions- very good


• Team Orientation- low good


• Attitude toward team failure- fair to good


• Understanding Discipline, Rules, & game Plan- very good


• Attitude toward authority- very good


• Attitude toward rule breaking- very good

The scores above reflect that he clearly understands cause & effect action aspects of the game. However, he is not overly involved with his team as indicated by a lower score in Team Orientation. When the team loses/fails, he overlooks it due to the fact that he personally has not contributed to the team due to injury. He is coachable, respects authority, and could never imagine 'throwing a game' on purpose no matter how bad his team is losing.

Okay let's now briefly look at a few of his results in his self view (his thinking as it relates to who he is, the roles he plays, his vision, and personal code):

• Understanding of self-worth- fair
  
• Sense of Self Reality- growth area


• Emotional self control- growth area


• Overall Self Attitude- fair to good

These scores would make sense given this young man has been dealing with an injury and is unsure of his soccer career. The good news is that he is still anticipates a positive future.

• Desire for Self Development- good


• Developing Personal Potential (attitude score)- very good

These attributes combine to measure Competitive Fire. Emotionally he thinks he is in the process of developing his potential and truly wants to continue to improve his game and himself.

• Game Role Awareness- fair to good


• Game Role Satisfaction- fair

These scores indicate he is not very sure of the role/position he needs to play in order to achieve his goals. In addition, due to his injury it would make sense that his level of personal satisfaction be low.

• Sports Self Identity- fair to good


• Mental Toughness- good


• Attitude towards Personal Growth- good

These scores reflect a strong level of uncertainty of personal game performance goals and how to best go about pursuing them. Again due to injury, this would make sense as injuries are most of the time beyond the athletes control. He has an objective view of himself in terms of the definition of his game identity. But due to his uncertainty of his future, he presently struggles with feeling a strong sense of belonging in the world of soccer.

• Intuition- fair


• Concentration- very good to excellent


• Stress Resistance- fair to good

These scores reflect that he presently would have a difficult time 'feeling his way' through the game (intuition) and struggle with coping with pressure. However, he has a strong ability to focus on the task at hand in times of high stress.

Conclusion

This young man is spending the majority of his thinking in his 'world view' and less in his 'self view'. This pattern is common in athletes trying to come back from an injury. Overall, this player has great potential and just needs a solid 'inner game plan' during his pre-season. Additional suggestions include:

• Start to build his self-confidence by getting a lot of touches on the ball.


• Ensure that there is quality communication between the coaching staff and the player; i.e. a daily feedback debrief on the quality of his training and play for each day


• Ask him specific questions throughout practice as to why he made the decisions that he did. This will get him to start to reflect more on himself, his own actions, and his self-worth.


• He will also begin to improve his self-confidence since his respect for authority is high and this type of personal attention will continue to build self-belief
  
• Co-create specific goals with him built around expectations and performance moving forward


• Because he is more focused in the 'world view', work through this present strength and have him coach during a small sided game. This will keep him feeling that he is a part of his team and contributes to their success.

Above are just a few example strategies of developing this player's 'Inner Game Plan' based on the results of his current profile. He will take the profile again in two months and specific adjustments can be made in order to best release his inner potential.

3D Coaching Model

It was not too long ago that I introduced the concept of 3D Thinking as a reference for how we make decisions.

Below is the total model for coaching that will hopefully get you to rethink your coaching process:

These building blocks of successful coaching (think, listen, observe, and communicate) all contibute to releasing your athlete's maximum potential. The art is to be able to apply all three dimensions of value (intrinsic, extrinsic, and systemic) in each of these areas in a balance dway so you can effectively pull from each one as needed.