Mental Skill Usage of Athletes with Physical Disabilities

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 20 Sayı: 1, 27 - 37, 30.04.2018

Ferhat Esatbeyoğlu Mark Campbell

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

Cited By: 1

Öz

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.

Anahtar Kelimeler

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

Kaynakça

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