Routines, rituals and rugby: case study of a world class goal kicker

By Robin C. Jackson, J. Baker. 2001

90 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper presents a case study of the most prolific rugby goal kicker of all time. In the first part of the study, the consistency of his preperformance routine was analyzed over kicks of varying difficulty. Results indicate that while certain physical aspects of his routine remain consistent, both his concentration time and physical preparation time increase with kick difficulty. In the second part of the study, the participant was interviewed about his physical and mental preparation for rugby goal kicking in competitive situations. The interview revealed that the participant incorporates a number of psychological skills into his routine, including thought stopping, cueing, and imagery but does not do so consistently. However, he perceives the timing of his routine to be highly consistent. Implications of these findings for the recommendation that performers strive for temporal consistency in their routines (Boutcher, 1990) are discussed.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7ab3b828de19beb4054cd5e4c68d6594214d19bf

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. S. Cotterill
2. D. Collins
3. Ross H. Sanders
4. Christopher Mesagno
5. Thomas Mullane-Grant

In Social Psychology

1. D. Collins
2. Ross H. Sanders
3. S. Cotterill

Citations in the corpus

• The think aloud method: what is it and how do I use it? (2017, unknown): “The task slowing effect might make concurrent reporting inappropriate for some situations, such as during sports competitions, but it does not restrict the method’s use in many other situations such as task simulations of the kind employed by Jackson and Baker (2001), described above.”
• Pre-performance routines in sport: current understanding and future directions (2010, background): “Jackson and Baker (2001) asked similar questions in their case study of an elite rugby goal kicker while Cotterill et al. (2010) conducted a phenomenological analysis exploring both the function of the routines utilized and the psychological skills employed by their six elite golfers.”
• Developing Effective Pre-performance Routines in Golf: Why Don't We Ask the Golfer? (2010, background): “Indeed Shaw (2002) highlighted the lack of studies that have investigated the practical value of PPRs. Jackson and Baker (2001) in their case-study approach did interview their elite rugby kicker but focused only on the descriptive components of the routine, not its function or role.”