Abstract: The field of sports is one area that is highly impacted and disrupted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has prevented athletes’ sport participation and impeded their time to train in a more suitable environment. They are forced to confine themselves at home and limit their sports activities into virtual trainings. Recently, the sporting community is slowly making its way back to safely resume practices and tournaments while the COVID-19 pandemic is still on-going. One approach that is being embraced by sports teams in the professional and collegiate levels is the concept of being in a sports bubble or a quarantine training camp. Under this kind of set-up, athletes and all related personnel are isolated from the general public for a period of time to perform sport-specific activities. Despite the clear benefits of having this type of training set-up, a sports bubble may also impact the mental and emotional wellness of the participants and elicit psychological strain on athletes. This paper conceptualizes an intervention that will promote the enhancement and use of self-management skills among student-athletes who are participating in a bubble type of training. It anchors itself to the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) framework which promotes the development of the following self-management competencies: regulating and expressing emotions thoughtfully, practicing perseverance and resilience to overcome obstacles, maintaining healthy boundaries, identifying and using stress management strategies, setting personal and collective goals, using planning and organization skills, and using feedback constructively. The strategies and techniques used in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) which focus on four modules namely mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotion regulation will be utilized to achieve these desired outcomes. The delivery of these strategies will be done through virtual group skills training, individual sessions, and phone coaching.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; student-athletes; sports bubble; self-management skills; Social-Emotional Learning (SEL); Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
Title: Skill-Building Intervention for Student-Athletes in a Sports Bubble Training Set-Up
Author: Desiree A. Espina
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
Vol. 10, Issue 2, April 2022 - June 2022
Page No: 327-334
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 25-May-2022
