Choking under Pressure: The Effect of skill Level and Type of Pressure on Performance of Soccer Dribbling Skill.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of skill level on the performance of dribbling skills in soccer choking under pressure conditions. For this purpose, 20 skilled players of the university football team and twenty beginner students in football (with age range 18-25) participated in the study. The Egilly soccer dribble skill test was performed in two stages: without pressure condition and combined pressure condition. In the present study, the combination of two types of pressure, competition between participants and camcorders were used to create pressure condition. In order to ensure that the pressure conditions were applied, the level of competitive anxiety was measured using the second version of the competitive state anxiety and the heart rate of the participants. To analyze the data, repeated measures analysis of variance was used for comparing the mean scores and independent t-test was used to compare the mean scores of two groups without pressure condition. The results showed that the performance of the skilled group, decrease under pressure conditions and the performance of the beginner group improved under pressure conditions. It is possible that the pressure conditions in the beginner group would increase the effort to perform better and thus improve performance. It can also be said that the motivational role of pressure conditions has improved performance in beginners. In skilled persons, they are also likely to engage in skill-centered mechanisms that give less skill to the source of attention which is empirically evident in verifying the explicit review theory.

Keywords

• choking
• performance
• dribble football
• skill level
• pressure