[An Investigation Of How Stress And Anger Related To Surfing Can Affect Surfers]

by

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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ABSTRACT

In sports, the importance of optimizing the anger recovery-stress state is critical. Effective anger recovery from intense training loads often faced by elite surfers can often determine sporting success or failure. In recent decades, surfers, coaches, and sport scientists have been keen to find creative, new methods for improving the quality and quantity of training for surfers. These efforts have consistently faced barriers, including overtraining, fatigue, injury, illness, and burnout. Physiological and psychological limits dictate a need for research that addresses the avoidance of overtraining, maximizes anger recovery, and successfully negotiates the fine line between high and excessive training loads. Monitoring instruments like the Anger recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Surfers can assist with this research by providing a tool to assess their perceived state of anger recovery. This article will highlight the importance of anger recovery for elite surfers and provide an overview of monitoring instruments.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT2

DECLARATION3

ABSTRACT4

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION6

Background of the Study6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW9

The Balance of Stress/Anger and Anger recovery13

Anger recovery14

Interrelation of Stress-States and Anger recovery Demands15

Rowing17

Monitoring Instruments18

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY21

Method21

Participants21

Measures21

Statistical Analysis23

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION27

Replication study27

Maximum likelihood Factor analysis: the general scales and the sport scales27

Item analysis study28

Maximum likelihood Factor analysis: General-Anger recovery/Stress items28

Maximum likelihood Factor analysis: Sport-Anger recovery/Stress items30

The Anger recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Surfers (RESTQ-Sport)32

Description32

Monitoring of the anger recovery-stress state33

Individual assessment36

Perspectives on anger recovery39

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION40

REFERENCES45

APPENDIX52

Appendix A. Scales & Items of the RESTQ-76 Sport (2001)52

Table 1.56

Table 2.57

Table 3.58

Table 4.61

Table 5.66

Table 6.67

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

During the past decade, physical and mental anger recovery in sport has received increasing attention in research and practice (e.g., Kellmann, 2002a; Montgomery et al., 2008; Richardson et al., 2008; Vaile et al., 2008). The opening of anger recovery centers in the US Training Centre (Colorado Springs, USA), the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra, Australia), and more recently the Queensland Academy of Sport (Brisbane, Australia), highlights the importance of, and financial investment in anger recovery. As a further evidence of this, the Australian Institute of Sport and the US Committee provided portable anger recovery facilities for their surfers to recover during and after training and competition at the Games 2008 in Beijing. This initiative aimed to optimize surfer performance. However, competing at a major event is often the final stage of a successful long-term training program that is conducted over several years. Furthermore, often surfers can only compete at these events when they have had a training-anger recovery balance maintained throughout the duration of the training program. Stress from training, competition, and lifestyle Factors has ...