L’étude du processus psychologique présent lors de l’entraînement délibéré chez des patineurs artistiques élites
Deliberate practice plays an important role in the development of sport excellence. This practice is described as being aimed at the improvement of performance and requires a high level of effort and concentration and is not inherently enjoyable. The quantitative aspect  of deliberate practice has been explored in several studies, but very few studies have examined the qualitative side of this process. Thus, the goal of the present study is to describe precisely what deliberate training is and the psychological  process underlying it.  To reach those goals, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve elite Quebec figure skaters . Data analyse, using grounded theory, demonstrate that high quality training is the result of a dynamic interaction among many factors related to the athletes, their environment, the content of their training and their psychological state. Specifically, confidence, focus, motivation and positive attitude are psychological skills that can affect performance. In fact, the results show that an important process occurred during deliberate training. First, cognitive and behavioral strategies such as mental imagery, goal setting and routine are used by athletes to prepare themselves to train. Then, when the athletes' psychological state is negatively affected, they use different strategies to try to optimize this state.  If these strategies are efficient, they help maintain the quality of training and the athletes experience the perception of having progressed technically, mentally, and emotionally.
Sport psychology deliberate training psychological skills figure skating