Mental Skill Usage of Athletes with Physical Disabilities

Year 2018, Volume: 20 Issue: 1, 27 - 37, 30.04.2018

Ferhat Esatbeyoğlu , Mark Campbell

https://doi.org/10.15314/tsed.368137

Cited By: 2

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.

Keywords

ParaVolley, amputee soccer, disability sports, psychological strategies, performance

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