RELATIONSHIP OF PSYCHOLOGICAL, ANATOMICAL AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION GOALS TO INJURY CONDITIONS IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS

Abstract

196 The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of personality, anatomical variables and achievement motivation goal variables to injury conditions in professional soccer players. Fourteen professional soccer players were participants in the study. Data were collected on each player for demographic variables, anatomical measures, flexibility measures, achievement motivation goals and personality variables. All interclass correlations for test-retest were above r=.90. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlations. Results indicated the following relationships: high positive correlations existed between injury occurrence with active hamstring flexibility on the right side, and all left and right side measures of flexibility except for moderate correlations on measures of plantar and dorsiflexion when the knee was extended. Moderate positive correlations existed between the following variables: ego with anxiety, days trained per week with personality, and injury occurrence with active hamstring flexibility on the left side. Inverse relationships existed between the following variables: personality with how much one weight trained per week, age with anxiety, and years of participation with anxiety. The results suggest that greater active hamstring flexibility may indicate a tendency for injury occurrence. Players who tend to be a more type A personality weight train less, but in general spend more days per week practicing. Level of anxiety is reduced as age and number of years of participation increase. However, level of anxiety seems to increase the greater the ego of the player. The players who are more task oriented appear to practice more hours per week.