Presenters and Chairperson

A New Perspective of Team Dynamics Leading to Peak Performance

Jin Wang, Ph.D.

Professor

Dept. of Health, Physical Education and Sport Science

Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia 30144, USA

Phone: 770-423-6233

Abstract. Coaching is unstable career due to many different reasons such as poor team management, coaches’ lack of technical skills, relationship issues with athletes, conflicts among head and assistant coaches, athletes’ discipline problems, lack of support from schools, etc. Based on that, needless to say, a team’s performance relies on multiple factors as aforementioned. Thus, a winning coach must be a well-round individual who not only has a great technical expertise, but also has abilities of bringing all players together to achieve a common goal. Thus, the purpose of this presentation is three folds: (1) examine the potential causes of a losing team, (2) illustrate the common characteristics of a winning team, (3) provide a successful coaching model for team sports-coaches to follow. Hopefully, through this presentation, audience can obtain a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and dynamics of coaching a sports team and also learn the necessary strategies of how to properly structure a team to leading to the champion.

Dr. Wang is a professor and coordinator of Coaching Education at Kennesaw State University in USA. Dr. Wang’s expertise is in the areas of sport psychology and motor learning. Currently Dr. Wang is a certified sport psychology consultant for the Association of Applied Sport Psychology, a registered sport psychology consultant for the United States Olympic Committee and a sport psychology consultant for the Chinese Olympic Committee. Dr. Wang has worked with many Olympic athletes and coaches from many countries.

Mental Recovery Techniques to Improve Performance

Dr. Douglas Callahan

Associate Professor

Department Head

Dept. of Physical Education and Sport Science

Winona State University

Winona, Minnesota

USA

Phone:507-452-4219
E-mail: dcallahan@winona.msus.edu

Abstract. Having the ability to overcome adversity during competition is many times what separates average or even poor performance from peak performance. All of the pre-competition training and practice can be in vain if the individual athlete or team is unable to make adjustments during the pressure of competition. The most successful athletes and teams have learned how to deal with unexpected challenges and setbacks. Rarely does a game or match go as planned, and many times the athlete or team is performing “out of the zone”. The key is for them to recognize this and know what to do about it. Many of these psychological strategies will be presented and analyzed both in theory and in practice. Through this presentation, the information introduced can help athletes, coaches, teachers or practitioners learn necessary psychological principles that can be effectively used for enhancing athletes’ performance in competition.

Dr. Douglas Callahan is an associate professor and Department Head in the Dept. of Physical Education and Sport Science at Winona State University, Minnesota, USA. Dr. Callahan’s expertise is in the area of sport psychology and he has made numerous presentations at international and national conferences and has published scholarly work extensively. Dr. Callahan used to be a college soccer coach and he can apply sports psychology concepts to practice effectively. Dr. Callahan is not only a scholar and teacher, but also a practitioner who can make a connection between theory to practice.

Chinese Qi Gon as A Psychological Phenomenon and Its Impact on Human Health and Wellness

Dr. Gui Bao Yang

Associate Professor

Dept. Of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance

Oxford College

Emory University Emory, GA, USA

Phone: 770-784-8371

E-mail: gyang2@emory.edu

Abstract. Qigong is part of the Chinese martial arts (Hard Qi Gong) and traditional Chinese medication in resisting pain, preventing illness and achieving wellness. Qi is a form of the vital energy in one's body to maintain life. Through Qigong exercise, an individual can bring himself/herself to a state of meditation so that that person's distress and anxiety will be eliminated to achieve the goal of wellness. Practicing Qigong can help an individual to gain the confidence, enhance concentration and keep positive thinking for one's life. Qigong has been a long tradition of exercise with more than 70 million Chinese people to practice weekly. This presentation will introduce both hard Qigong and exercise qigong so that audience can learn Qigong for the benefit of fitness and wellness by achieving positive psychological well-being.

Dr. Yang is an associate professor at the Oxford College of Emory University, Atlanta, USA. Dr. Yang’s expertise is in the areas of sport psychology and Chinese martial arts. Currently Dr. Yang holds the rank 6 martial arts certificate issued by Chinese Olympic Committee. Dr. Yang has presented actively at international and national conferences in the areas of sport psychology and Chinese martial arts. Dr. Yang specializes Chinese Tai Ji and Qi Gon by integrating psychological principles to these traditional martial arts.

Sport Psychology for Thai Athletes

Pichit Muangnapoe , Ph. D,

Lecturer
Department of Sport Science, Faculty of Physical Education
Srinakarinwirot University
Bangkok, 10110, Thailand

Supitr Samahito, Ph.D.

Faculty of Sports Science,

Kasetsart University

Bangkok, THAILAND

Abstract. Sport psychology service group in Thailand primarily evolved around nearly two decades. At present, sport psychological work is gradually gaining its ground among the Thai sport community. Although progressing well, there are many barriers to overcome. Two key barriers are 1) lack of understanding about sport psychology and 2) insufficient skilled sport psychologist. One advantage for doing sport psychology in Thailand is that as a Buddhist majority country, many coaches and athletes are familiar with mental techniques used in religious practice. Putting psychological skill training into practice is easier. Minor problem is most Thai athletes including coaches and other concerned people view psychology, including sport psychology as things for people with mental problem. Some even believe this sport psychological service is spurious. Extended research and practice are needed to cope with this. Time is, as well, a problem. Most sport psychologists are not working full time on this. It goes without saying that both parties, the sport psychologists and the athletes need to manage their time to work it out together. The purpose of this presentation is to share with the audience how sport psychology in Thailand is. And it is expected to be a great opportunity to hear from others including fruitful discussion and recommendation from other who may have the same experience from elsewhere.

Dr. Pichit Muangnapoe is teaching at Srinakarinwirot University in Thailand. Apart from working at the university, he has also extensive hand-on experience with Olympic athletes taekwando, boxing, and weight lifting in particular, assigned by the Sport Authority of Thailand since 1993. He also works for the professional golf association in Thailand looking after several young professional golfers. During 1997-2002, he works as the head coach for the national windsurfing team.

Dr. Supitr Samahito is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sports Science, Kasetsart University in Bangkok. She received her B.Ed. and M.Ed. in Physical Education (Elementary Education) from Chulalongkorn University and her Ph.D. in Measurement and Research Methodology as well as her interested area in Sports and Exercise Psychology from Oregon State University in 1984. She was the founder and former Dean of the Faculty of Sports Science since 2005. For the administration side, she served as the Chairman of the Department of Physical Education during 1989 – 1991, Dean of the Faculty of Education during 1992 – 2000 and Vice President for Development at her University during 2001 – 2004. Dr. Supitr’s research area include but are not limited to a construction of health related physical fitness tests and norms for pre-school children (4-6 years), children of age 7-18, and for Aging people. As the Director of Thailand Olympic Academy, she contributed the concepts of “Olympic Movement” to the people around the country, also she conducted the Women and Sport Seminars and Workshops for the NOC of Cambodia, NOC of Laos, and the NOC of Vietnam in 2006, 2007and 2008 respectively. Currently, Dr. Supitr served as the Council Member of the National Institute of Physical Education, the Senate’s Academic Member; Standing Committee on Sport. Dr. Supitr has received the award as an Education Contributor to the Society from the Ministry of Education in 2001, in 2002 she received the “Women and Sport Achievement Award” from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), being awarded the “National Excellent Academic Contributor to the Society” by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport in 2008. At the same year, she received award as the “Graduate Education and the Public Good” by the United States Council of Graduate School, U.S.A. and was elected to be the FISU/CESU during 2008-2011.

An Investigation of Chinese College Coaches’ Perceptions on the Relationships between Working Related Pressures and Satisfaction of Family Life

Dr. Bin Wang,

Professor and Associate Dean,

School of Physical Education and Sport,

Central China Normal University,

Wuhan, Hubei,

China

Tel: 86-27-67878159, Fax: 86-27-87379827,

Email: bwang@mail.ccnu.edu.cn

Abstract. Based on the study of Greenhaus & Beutell (1985), the definition of work-family conflict (WFC) was investigated. The role conflicts between long working hours and family life satisfaction are incompatible for many coaches, especially for those coaches who work long hours in the evenings and weekends (Sagas & Cunningham, 2005). In order to help Chinese college coaches to better cope with WFC, some institutions introduce certain family-friendly policies and practices in workplace in hopes to reduce job related pressures for coaches. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of family-friendly supporting system on the relationship of coaches’ perceptions between working pressures and family life satisfaction. The data of the survey were collected from the 5 cities in China with 192 married coaches investigated. These coaches trained 25 different sports such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, shooting, diving, swimming, track and field, wrestling, kickboxing, art gymnastic, etc. The result of the study revealed that for those coaches who perceived high level of family-supportive supervision, no significant relationships were found between the working related pressure and the family life satisfaction, and the negative relationships were revealed between working pressures and family life satisfaction. The presentation will also introduce the practical implications of how these research findings can positively contribute to Chinese college coaches’ proper coping strategies between job related pressures and family life.

Dr. Bin Wang is a Professor and Associate Dean in School of Physical Education and Sports, Central China Normal University in P.R. of China. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Psychology from Beijing Sports University in P.R. of China. He completed his Postdoctoral work in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource from the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of sciences during 2002-2004. In 2007, He was a Visiting Scholar of Organizational Behavior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in the United States. Dr. Wang' research interest is in the areas of sport psychology and sports administration. Mainly, he investigates Chinese college coaches’ job related pressures in relationship to coaches’ family life. Dr. Wang’s research has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Ministry of Education, China Sport General Administration and Chinese postdoctoral science foundation. He has published over 50 papers in a variety of professional journals and Dr. Wang has made numbers presentations at conferences, including the International Congress of Psychology, Chinese Psychological of Society, China Sport Science Society, and Asian & South Pacifica Association Sports Psychology. Currently, Dr. Wang is a Committee Member of Sports Psychology, Chinese Society of Sports Science, Director of Hubei Society of Psychology and Vice-President of Sports Psychology Committee in P.R of China.