The planning phase

The planning phase of this intervention lasted from the first meeting with the principal to the preparing of the last classroom session. The planning went on during the whole process of the intervention, consequently including the implementation of the classroom sessions and doing evaluation of all actions which led to adjustments of the course, following the principles of an action research study (e.g. Stringer, 2014).

The actual planning of the intervention took over two months; it started in 3^rd of November, 2014 and continued until the start of the course, January 12^th, 2015. In planning of this course, sport psychological articles and previous studies which implemented PST in sports and other settings were extensively read (see chapters 1.3 - 1.4). At that time I familiarized also with an action research method. Needs analysis with the principal, guidance counselor, senior students, colleagues and supervisor was done. This all can be called learning from the experiences of previous studies and actions. One part of this self-education and assessment was filled with the meetings of the principal (total 4 times) and discussing about the needs of the students. Study counselors gave the background information and basic knowledge from the participants and senior students shared their views what should be taught. Senior sport psychology students and the supervisor offered their knowledge and information and shared their experiences about similar projects they had executed before. According to Hardy et al. (2010), practitioner should feel free to choose the version of the inventory that he feels is most appropriate for his needs and in that way the intervention was a mixture of previous studies, experiences and models.

The ideas of “Look, think, act” model by Stringer (2009) were used in this first phase, especially in lesson planning and preparation, and reviewing information and resources. Lots of time was spent in the library searching for information and adequate sources in regards of this phase (Look). The second step of selecting, planning, and organizing information (Think) was the step where all collected

information had to be formulated into a high school course. The last step in phase one where designing a lessons plan was a dominant can be called an “Act”.

The PPP approach by DeWiggins et al. (2010) was useful in planning but especially in implementing the course lessons. The educational step included classroom training and that was the base of our PST course. Classroom session included theoretical, conceptual, and practical information regarding psychological skills training. In PPP workbooks are used to enhance learning but our intervention was based on different tasks that were given at hand in each session. Planning and implementation of this PST program’s classroom sessions followed the steps of PPP also in the next, the acquisition step, where it was vital that participants went into the field and applied skills what they had learned, in their real life environments, as in school, exercises and other venues. This was done through homework assignments which were planned to cover individual training and independent search for knowledge of each topic at hand. The key point here was in actual learning by doing. Students received feedback on their progress of psychological skills through the net based learning environment.

The PST course aimed at enhancing and gaining metal strength for life using several tactics. The fundamental idea of the course was, practice makes perfect and that was why we first practiced these certain psychological skills in the classroom setting and after that through students’ homework assignments. When the proper foundation for these skills was set, it was thought that it could be easier for participants to adopt skills needed in various life settings. One aim of the course was to build the foundations for these skills and through learning and practicing to gain more and more confidence in using them.

At first the idea was to give this PST only to sports class students but after our meeting with the principal we decided to give it to all seniors who are preparing to their final exams. This discussion can be seen as part of an action research study (e.g. Stringer, 2014) where planning, acting, observing and reflecting formulate and guide one’s actions. What had been planned did not work in the first place so it was time to react and change the action plan. Student who passed the course could get one credit out of it and that was something we used to lure students to

participate. In this phase we (me, the principal and study counselors) promoted the upcoming course by emails and advertisements on school’s notice boards. But like it often happens in life, everything did not go as planned. We could not get those senior students to participate, because they were busy with their studies and schedules. This showed one thing that is characteristic for an action research study;

change of plans has to be made along the way and after this minor setback we offered the course for all those students who were interested in to participate.

Students were encouraged to search for information and drills and to share it with the group in the classroom sessions or in the net based learning environment.

Students were also recommended to watch elite athletes perform and use modeling to learn and enhance their own performance like Weinberg and Gould (2015) suggested. I tried to act as a model myself and whatever we did I acted as professional as I could; this is how Weinberg and Williams (2006) recommended a PST practitioner to act. If you as a practitioner feel confident, and do your job as good as possible, participants most likely feel and act the same way. That is the reason why I practiced my lectures many times in advance so I could be as professional and convincing as possible.

I as the researcher reflected on my own and students’ learning processes and performances as “Think” and providing feedback and information as “Act” by Stringer (2009). Feedback was given in peda.net, a net based learning environment where all presented material, slides and exercises were shared. Phase 3, assessment and evaluation, where the lesson outcomes and student performance were reviewed and was referred to as “Look”. The next step in phase three was to identify successes, i.e. what was good and what were the strengths but also to notice weaknesses and gaps. This was referred to as “Think” and the last step of planning and improving instruction and learning step as “Act”. All these phases, planning and preparation, instruction or implementation, assessment and evaluation are covered in my researcher’s diary, students’ learning logs, final inquiry (feedback) and interview sessions in forthcoming chapters.