2017 Volume 14 Pages 13-26
This study examined psychological features and the process of psychological development of early adolescent top athletes. Eight counseling cases of early adolescent top athletes were reviewed, and four features were revealed: “Difficulty of noticing changes in the body related to puberty,” “Inability to perform what used to come naturally,” ”Lack of support” and “Over-adaptation to athletic competition.” Moreover, the psychological development process of these four features in early adolescent top athletes is unique in that they must skip directly from the task of industry at school age to self-identity at adolescence. Early adolescent top athletes engaged with their self-identity through the experience of “losing the sense of their own body”. In counseling, they began the process of “trial-and-error to awaken a new sense of self with the support of their relationship with the therapist”, and also began to “confirm this awakening”. It is likely that these experiences were accomplished due to the therapist taking multifaceted roles during counseling.
