Barreras y riesgos

During major sport challenges, elite athletes encounter an array of stressors. To date, few sport researchers have organized these stressors in a meaningful way outside of noting the sport

challenge during which they occurred (i.e., source). Woodman and Hardy (2001) were the first to

consider the contextual origin of an athlete’s stressor when they noted numerous stressors originating from their sport organization (e.g., coach). Sixteen current and retired elite athletes were given structured individual interviews that were later subjected to a hierarchal content analysis. The resulting stressors could be traced back to the organization and comprised of four issues: environment, personal, leadership, and team. The environmental issues were selection, finances, and training environment, accommodation, travel, and competition environment. The personal issues were nutrition, injury, as well as goals and expectations. The leadership issues were coaches and coaching styles while the finally set of issues originated from team members and included the team atmosphere, support network, roles, and communication. In relation to the present dissertation, it is plausible that each of these sources contribute to a player’s stress.

However, the possibility also exists to organize stressors according to a time in an athlete’s career and the findings in the present study will be an attempt to associate stressors and their source with a career stage. Having stressors organized according to a career stage will allow athletes and their support staff to anticipate upcoming stressors and position themselves accordingly to ensure an adaptive transition.

Fletcher and Hanton (2003) realized that organizations constantly placed stress on elite athletes when they examined organizations within various sport disciplines. The authors held structured individual interviews with 14 elite athletes and then conducted inductive and

deductive content analysis. Consequently, Woodman and Hardy’s (2001) issues were expanded upon with sub-themes. Environmental issues were selection, finances, training environment, accommodation, travel, and competitive environment. Personal issues were nutrition, injury, goals and expectations. Leadership issues were coaches and their coaching styles while team issues were atmosphere, support networks, roles, and communication. Generating sub-themes

provides a second level of richness within the discussion about stress. In the present dissertation, the stressors experienced by NHL players in terms of breath and depth were sought. For

example, stress could be experienced at any time in a player’s career and at one time, a combination of sub-stressors could leave a player feeling overwhelmed.

The topics of stressors and sub-stressors were later supported by Hanton, Fletcher, and Coughlin’s (2005) investigation with 10 elite international athletes. A semi-structured format was used to interview their participants individually before using a combination of inductive and deductive content analysis. As a result, the authors signalled that outside of organizational stressors, there were also stressors originating from competition such as preparation and opponents. Distinguishing these two sources of stressors was deemed imperative since unique and corresponding intervention programs were believed to be necessary in managing each group of stressors (Hanton, Fletcher, & Coughlin, 2005). Organizational stress was defined by Hanton et al. as “the environmental demands associated primarily and directly with the organization within which [the athlete] was operating” (p. 1130). Competitive stress was defined by Hanton et al. as “the environmental demands associated primarily and directly with competitive

performance” (p. 1130). Essentially, the response used to restore equilibrium in a high-stakes sport challenge was determined by the athlete’s appraisal of the stressor in-context.

Organizational stressors were factors intrinsic to the sport, the organizational structure the athlete was part of, the athlete’s role in the sport organization, and athletic development issues (e.g., politics). Competitive stressors include the athlete’s opponent or the degree of challenge posed by the competition itself. For example, Hanton, Fletcher, and Coughlin identified six competitive stressors following interviews with 10 elite international athletes: (a) inadequate preparation, (b) high risk of injury, (c) pressure, (d) high quality opponents, (e) appearance, (f) event, and (g)

superstition. In relation to the present dissertation, NHL players experienced stress from the organization and the competitive contexts. What remains to be seen is the delineation of precise details that make, for example, an opponent stressful.

Thelwell, Weston, and Greenlees (2007) gathered empirical evidence exclusively about competitive stressors in professional sport when they interviewed one group of athletes about one role on their team: professional cricket batsmen. They found that the competitive stressors of batsmen were numerous: (a) perceptions of stress, (b) match specific issues, (c) current playing status, (d) relationships with important others, (e) external influences, (f) views of others, (g) opponents, and (h) technique. Perceptions of stress included sub-themes such as self-induced pressure, emotional instability, and insecurity while match specific issues were game challenge worries, importance of game, conditions of play, umpires for the game, and teammates’

performance. The stress associated with one’s current playing status was characterized by recent performances and selection issues while relationships with important others included

communication issues, perceived negative influence of relationship, and expectation from others causing harm. External influences include different sub-themes such as reputation of club, contractual issues, personal life, financial pressures, and demands of the game. The stress originating from the views of other people included the views of the press, the public (i.e., community), and selectors (i.e., team) while the opponents were stressful when they possessed knowledge and expressed behaviours of a high standard. In all, Thelwell and colleagues provided a comprehensive list of the competitive stressors associated with being a professional batsman in the sport of cricket. The list of stressors can be closely examined in relation to the present

dissertation about NHL players to find similarities and discrepancies since both groups of participants were professional athletes. For example, issues related to a teammate’s performance

in cricket were similar to ice-hockey were players constantly depend on each other during games. Mackay, Niven, Lavalle, and White (2008) interviewed 12 elite track athletes from the United Kingdom and identified 9 competitive stressors: (a) lack of confidence, (b) concerns about competitors, competition, and preparation, (c) fear of failure, (d) somatic concerns, (e) injury, (f) social evaluation and self-presentation during performance, (g) lack of social support at competition, (h) underperforming, and (i) pressure to perform. The authors also identified five organizational stressors: (a) training issues such as underperformance and lack of support, (b) negative interpersonal relationships, (c) governing body issues such as funding, selection, scheduling, doping assessments, (d) weather, lane, and race conditions, and (e) personal issues related to organization such as lifestyle demands and financial commitments. Mackay et al. also indicated that there was an additional category of stress: personal stressors. Personal stressors were stressors that originated from one’s life outside of athletics including the death of a loved one or family conflict. Despite the abundance of stressors delineated by sport researchers, there was a way of organizing them where the source (i.e., sport organization, competition, and personal) of the stressor was identified. However, the potential exists to organize elite athletes’

stressors into another category such as stress episodes that were presumably part of an athletic career. When stress episodes regularly occur at a time in an athlete’s career, she/he can anticipate its occurrence in her/his sport life. When the stress episode is anticipated, there is less

uncertainty regarding its resolution since she/he can review potentially adaptive responses and select the appropriate course of action knowing that the episode will be acute instead of chronic.