Acceptance and commitment therapy as a proposal of treatment for expatriates in soccer

Abstract

It is common that soccer athletes move between cities or countries to grow ate their career. The transition to play in other with different culture is complex and it is not take into account by clubs and professionals that work with the athlete. The ability to adapt to a new culture is an important element for the athletes success that can bring difficulties and suffer due to the differences of the new environment as the values and customs. The aim of this paper is to present from a narrative review the acceptance and commitment therapy as an intervention possibility to expatriate soccer athletes. Studies related to sport and acceptance and commitment therapy suggest improvement in athlete’s performance reducing anxiety. In this sense, So, it is proposed an intervention focusing on the identification of values for the athlete, the feelings related to his suffering, strategies used to prevent suffering and strategies of commitment with values.