Psychological skills of Indian Gymnasts

Abstract

Psychological skills account for significant amounts of athletic performance. Studies reveal that the good performers are good in psychological skills as compared to poor performers. So in the light of this, present study assessed level of psychological skills in relation to Indian gymnasts performance, using Psychological Skills assessment scale questionnaire which measured the skills such as imagery, self-awareness, self-confidence, attention, motivation, arousal regulation, goal setting and psychic energy management, the data collected from artistic gymnasts from different universities those who participated in inter varsity championship in patiala, 2010. The athlete sample comprised 28 above average gymnasts and 42 below average (age range 17 to 27 yrs.). Analyses revealed that there is no significant difference among the above average and below average gymnasts. Whereas studies show that, high potential athletes have high psychological skills-level. Though, in present study the above average gymnasts did not report any amplitude in the psychological skills. The reason could be the casual approach towards filling the questionnaire and inability of the subjects to understand the statements of the questionnaire due to the poor understanding of the Hindi and English language as the mother tongue of the subjects were different.