Abstract

Mental skills training strategies should be beneficial for a variety of different skills, age groups and special populations. The purpose of the present research were twofold; initially to examine performance strategies in various sport situations used by volleyball, sitting volleyball and amputee soccer players, and comparing it among the sports; and secondly, whether the current performance level of athletes and the years participating in sport would show a significant difference in their application o f psychological skills during practice and competition. The refined version of Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) was administrated to athletes (N=309) competing across a range of performance standards in volleyball, sitting volleyball and amputee soccer sports. Results revealed that, relative to competition strategies, participants scored highest on activation and lowest on relaxation (4.10±0.52; 3.03±0=1.04, respectively) and in practice environment they scored highest on self-talk and lowest on relaxation (3.84±0=.91; 2.80±0.98, respectively). Examination of the results showed moderately strong correlations among many of the strategies in both competition and practice environments (P<0.01). Additionally, comparison of mental skills and strategies usage according to sports, discovered significant sport specific variations both in competition and practice settings (P<0.01). Investigation of current performance level differences in psychological skills and strategies explored differences among international, national and club level athletes (P<0.01). Exploration of years participating in sport comparison has also discovered differences among groups (P<0.01). These findings provide a unique insight into the mental skill usage of athletes with physical disabilities and their application to practise and environment settings.

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call