장기간 시합 미참가로 인한 여자탁구 학생선수와 실업선수의 선수 정체성 변화

Abstract

Purpose: Purpose: This study examined the chages in athletic identity of Korean female student and professional athletes due to long-term non-participation in competitions. The wide spread of COVID-19 made the table tennis athletes impossible to participate in scheduled competitions more than 11 months. This type of forced non-participation in games for a long period of time was very rare case in recent years. Methods: A total of 65 female high school table tennis student athletes and 35 female professional athletes responded to the athletic identity questionnaire. The were requested to recall the time when they were normally train and participate before the COVID-19. The participants responded to each of the athletic identity item twice: 1) normal participation period before COVID-19 and 2) more than 11 months of non-participation due to the pandemic. Paired t-test and repeated two-way ANOVA were performed. Results: The analyses of the data revealed that although the two groups showed lowered levels of athletic identity, long-term non-participation in competitions lowered athletic identity of the professional players more drastically compared to the student counterparts. The interaction effects were found for all of the subscales of athletic identity (self identity, social identity, exclusivity, positive emotion, and negative emotion). Overall, the student athletes who palyed for the national team showed moderate decreases in athletic identity. For the professinal athletes, the patterns of decreases in athletic idnetity before and after the long non-participation were similar across different status in terms of national team nomination. In conclusion, unintended non-participation in competitions for more than 11 months lowered athltetic identity of the professional table tennis players more deeply compared to the student athletes. Conclusion: In order to prevent negative impact on athletic identity, opportunities for participation in various competitions, even in the form of matches without spectators, are necessary for the high performance athletes.