Competition Challenge - Athletes’ Skills

Abstract

The concept of flow depicts an optimal subjective state that is characterized by intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, and positive experience during the activity. Based on the orthogonal flow model, anxiety and confidence reflect crucial aspects in athletes’ perceptions of challenges and skills. Moreover, the challenge-skills balance is an important precondition to experience flow state. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess theoretical associations between the orthogonal flow model in a competition environment and the direction (facilitative-debilitative) of anxiety and self-confidence symptoms, with challenge and skill perceptions as moderating variable that separated the sample into four sub-groups (flow, relaxation, anxiety, apathy). METHODS: A total of 346 athletes completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) and Flow State Scale-2 (FSS-2). Each athlete completed the CSAI-2 direction scale along with two single-item scales measuring the challenge of the competition and skills of the athletes one day before and one hour before the competition, as well as thirty minutes after the competition, including the FSS-2. RESULTS: The MANOVA results showed significant differences among the four flow quadrants (apathy, anxiety, relaxation, flow) on direction CSAI-2 subscales one hour before (F3,334 = 6.170, p<.001, = .053), one day before (F3,334 = 7.343, p<.001, = .062) and during competition (F3,334 = 7.829, p<.001, = .066). Significant correlations revealed among anxiety and self-confidence directions mainly with athlete’s skills. CONCLUSION: Athletes’ skills seem more important than competition challenge for a facilitative interpretation of anxiety symptoms and self-confidence. The four groups showed substantial differences in anxiety and self-confidence level, which would allow future research to develop interventions in order to enhance pre-competition experience.