Iberian Congress on Basketball Research, 2007, 4, 108-111.

© Ammons Scientific LTD 2008

PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS’ COPING STRATEGIES

IN STRESSFUL SITUATIONS1

ANTÓNIO ROSADO and ANA SANTOS

Faculty of Human Kinetics, Technical University of Lisbon

CARLOS SILVA

Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior

Summary.—The purpose of this study was to identify coping strategies used by

members of a top professional basketball team. The stressful situations identified were
related to competition. To identify the coping strategies used by the athletes, an interview
guide was developed. The data were analyzed and categorized into predefined catego-
ries: Problem-focused coping, Emotion-focused coping, and Other coping strategies. In
stressful situations related to the competitive experience, the most often mentioned cop-
ing strategies were active coping, increased effort, mental disengagement, and positive
reinterpretation and growth. In competitions, the athletes used active coping, mental
disengagement, planning, and venting of emotions to deal with the stressful situations.

Participation in competitive sport often places an athlete under intense

pressure. The athlete must develop and use an array of coping skills to man-
age these demands. Research has shown that coping strategies are generally
grouped into three large dimensions: Problem-focused coping, Emotional-fo-
cused coping, and Other coping strategies. Gould, Eklund, and Jackson (1993)
showed that a sample of wrestlers employed four main categories of coping:
mental disengagement (blocking distractions, taking things into perspective,
positive thinking, coping thoughts, and praying); task-focused strategies (more
direct focus and concentrating on the objectives); strategies based on behavior
(changing or controlling the surrounding environment and following a stable
routine); and emotional-control strategies (activating control and visualization
strategies). Gould, Finch, and Jackson (1993) concluded that the categories of
coping strategies used included rational thinking and self-talk, focus and posi-
tive orientation, time management and prioritization, precompetition mental
preparation and anxiety management, training hard and with intelligence,
isolation and deflection, and ignoring the stressor. Even though there has been
increased attention paid to coping, little attention has been given to coping in
team sports settings. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the
coping strategies used by athletes from a professional basketball team in situa-
tions that they considered stressful.

1
Address correspondence to António Fernando Boleto Rosado, Estrada da Costa-Cruz, Quebrada,
1499 Lisboa Codex, Portugal or e-mail (arosado@fmh.utl.pt).

DOI 10.2466/ICBR.4.108-111
 COPING STRATEGIES IN PRO BASKETBALL 109

Method
Subjects
Eleven athletes from a professional basketball team were personally invited
to participate in this study.
Measure
The interview was based on several coping measures, the coping with ad-
versity (COPE) and the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI–28), elaborat-
ed by Smith, Schutz, Smoll, and Ptacek (1995). Coping strategies were grouped
into three dimensions. Problem-focused coping involved active coping strate-
gies, planning, suppression of the competitive anxieties, restraint coping, and
the search for instrumental support. Emotional-focused coping involved the
search for emotional support, positive reinterpretation and growth, acceptance
of the situation, denial of the situation, and praying. Finally, Other coping strat-
egies included emotional focusing and/or expressing strategies, physical dis-
tance, mental distance, distancing behaviors, humor, self-blaming, effort, and
desired thinking.
Procedures
A structured interview guide was used. The questions were defined in a
semistructured interview format.
R esults
The coping strategies used in the situations identified as stressful and the
frequency of their use related to the general aspects of competition are present-
ed in Table 1. It was found that the coping process is a dynamic and complex
one that involves a great number of strategies. All these strategies were used to-
gether in combination. The data revealed that the subjects primarily used Prob-
lem-focused and Emotional-focused coping. Problem-focused coping involved
active coping (mainly communication and action), planning, restraint coping,
and instrumental support, while Emotional-focused coping involved strategies
such as the search for emotional support and the positive reinterpretation and
growth as well as increase in effort, mental disengagement (ignoring, not think-
ing about something), and expressing emotions.
TABLE 1
Frequency of Coping Strategies Used in Stressful Situations
R elated to General Aspects of Competition
Source of stress Strategy Frequency
Not creating expectation (Active coping) 2
Performance expectation
Increased effort (Effort) 2
Disengagement (Mental disengagement) 1
(continued on next page)
110 A. ROSADO, et al.

TABLE 1 (Cont’d)
Frequency of Coping Strategies Used in Stressful Situations
R elated to General Aspects of Competition
Source of stress Strategy Frequency
Increased effort (Effort) 3
Psychological and physical Increased motivation (Active coping) 2
form Concentration (Active coping) 1
Positive speech (Positive reinterpretation and 1
growth)
Relaxation (Active coping) 3
Worries about competitive Positive thinking (Positive reinterpretation and 2
experience growth)
Increased motivation (Active coping) 2
Preparation/readiness to Communication (Active coping) 2
perform Distraction (Mental disengagement) 2
Concentration (Active coping) 3
Increased effort (Effort) 2
Others’ opinions/ Action (Active coping) 2
evaluations Communication (Active coping) 2
Support (Seeking instrumental support) 1
Observation (Planning) 1
Concentration/Focus (Active coping) 2
Increased effort (Effort) 2
Failure situation experience Communication (Active coping) 2
Thinking about next game (Planning) 1
Forgetting the failure (Mental disengagement) 1
Distraction (Mental disengagement) 1
Adaptation (Active coping) 2
Challenge/pleasure (Positive reinterpretation and 2
Competition importance
growth)
Not worrying (Mental disengagement) 1
Action and team communication (Active coping) 1
Increased effort (Effort) 2
Injury
Distraction (Mental disengagement) 2
Action, taking care of the body (Active coping) 1
Communication Communication (Active Coping) 3

Many coping strategies identified are congruent with the findings from
previous studies in team and individual sports. In the stressful situations re-
lated to the competitive experience, the most often mentioned situations were
also active coping, increase in effort, mental disengagement, and positive rein-
terpretation and growth.
Discussion
The present study reinforces the value of qualitative methods in coping re-
search that explore real situations and strategies used by athletes in each elite
sport context. The individual interviews yielded detailed information about
 COPING STRATEGIES IN PRO BASKETBALL 111

coping strategies used by athletes when dealing with stressful situations. They
also provided an opportunity to explore interpretations and improve under-
standing of how these variables are considered stressful and in which way the
athletes dealt with situations.
REFERENCES
Gould, D., Eklund, R. C., & Jackson, S. A. (1993)  Coping strategies used by U.S. Olympic wres-
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Gould, D., Finch, L. M., & Jackson, S. A. (1993)  Coping strategies used by national champion
figure skaters. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 64, 453-468.
Smith, R. E., Schutz, R. W., Smoll, F., & Ptacek, J. (1995)  Development and validation of a
multidimensional measure of sport-specific psychological skills: the Athletic Coping Skills
Inventory-28. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 17, 379-398.