Abstract
The use of psychological skills and their utility in enhancing athletes' sport performance has been well documented and is not questioned. However, when it comes to understanding officiating performance, the sport psychology literature is severely lacking. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the use of psychological skills by Canadian minor ice hockey officials. The Athlete Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28; Smith, Schutz, Smoll, & Ptacek, 1995) was modified for an officiating context by changing the original coachability subscale into one that reflected feedback from both supervisors and coaches. Responses from the resulting 35-item questionnaire were obtained from 255 ice hockey officials (91.4% male) from two Canadian provinces. Officials certified in Levels 1 through 4 were asked to indicate on a scale from 1 Never to 5 Always how often they acted or thought in a certain way. Officials in the higher levels as compared to the lower levels reported (a) using more goal setting strategies, F(3, 229) = 4.28, p = .006, (b) feeling more confident in their officiating abilities, F(3, 230) = 5.02, p = .002, (c) feeling better able to concentrate during games and able to handle unexpected situations better, F(3, 229) = 4.41, p = .005, (d) performing better under pressure, F(3, 227) = 10.44, p = .000, and (e) staying more positive and calm during games, F(3, 228) = 2.69, p = .047. Discussion will revolve around the implications for psychological skills training.Acknowledgments: SSHRC/Sport Canada sport participation joint research initiative