ABSTRACT

The attainment of sporting expertise and stable performance at an elite level are assumed to depend upon a variety of physiological, physical, sociological, and psychological skills (Williams & Reilly, 2000; see also the various chapters in this book). Psychological skills include, but are not limited to, motivation (Crespo & Reid, 2007), emotion regulation and related strategies to cope with stress and performance pressure (Lazarus, 2000) as well as “the ability to identify and acquire environmental information for integration with existing knowledge such that appropriate responses can be selected and executed” (D. T. Y. Mann, Williams, Ward, & Janelle, 2007, p. 457). The latter defines what is usually referred to as perceptual-cognitive skill in the sports science literature.