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This study explored elite female adolescent swimmers' perceptions of the motivational influences of their coaches, parents, and peers using qualitative methods. Nine elite female swimmers (aged 13--15 years) participated in two semi-structured interviews that were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Data was gathered and analyzed according to Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Six categories emerged including: individual factors, and assistance, informational, esteem, emotional, and network support. Results indicated girls' interpretations and unique, salient aspects of social support types provided by coaches, parents, and peers. Findings are related to past self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985) motivational research. In particular, swimmers social support experiences were uniquely linked to their perceptions of competence, autonomy, relatedness, and motivation in elite competitive swimming. Findings support main SDT tenets and offer new insights into the important and differential social support influences in sport.

The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of an imagery session on intercollegiate female swimmers' precompetitive state anxiety levels and on perceptions of anxiety. A switched replication design was utilized in which twenty-two female intercollegiate swimmers were administered the the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory2, CSAI-2 (Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990) and the Competitive Anxiety Perception Scale, CAPS, (Murray, 1989) weekly over the course of five weeks. Subjects were then randomly exposed to an imagery session during this period. Although descriptive data showed decreases in subjects' levels of A-state, a 2x2 ANOVA revealed no significant differences between subjects' PRE and POST scores. The observed decreases in A-state, although nonsignificant at the .05 level, warrants future research with a larger sample size. Additionally, the nonsignificant change in CAPS suggested that one's perceptions of anxiety may be learned at an early age and, therefore, not easily modified. It is suggested that future researchers attempt to identify those factors which mediate perceptions of anxiety. / School of Physical Education

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The purpose of the present study was to examine goal setting strategies, locus of control beliefs and personality characteristics of swimmers (108 males and 111 females) from top twenty 1999 NCAA Division IA programs. Three questionnaires were completed: (a) Goal Setting in Sport Questionnaire (GSISQ: Weinberg, Burton, Yukelson, & Weigand, 1993), (b) the Internal, Powerful Others, Chance Scale (IPC: Levenson, 1973), and (c) the compliance subscale and six conscientiousness subscales from the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R: Costa & McCrae, 1985). Descriptive statistics from the GSISQ indicated that most of the swimmers set goals to improve overall performance (51%) and set moderately difficult goals (58%). Results associated with the IPC scale revealed that most of the swimmers attributed their sport performance to internal factors. Results pertaining to the NEO-PI-R indicated that most swimmers were highly conscientious, disciplined, purposeful, and determined.