The effect of psychological skill training on competitive anxiety and self confidence in athlete students

Abstract

Background: The subject of anxiety is one of the major psychological issues raised by competitive athletes and causes poor performance. Training of psychological abilities can be one of the effective interventions in the field of anxiety. But the key question is whether training in psychological abilities affects competitive anxiety and self-esteem in athletic students? Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of psychological skills training on competitive anxiety and self-confidence in athletic students. Method: This was a quasi-experimental study. For this purpose, 48 students with the mean age of 14.9 were selected and divided into four groups of 12 subjects each consisting of 12-subject mental imagery training, self-talk and blended learning (self-talk and mental imagery) and The evidence was divided. Research tools include: Burton & Redick (2010) Psychological Abilities Practice and Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Fernandez et al. (2013). Covariance analysis and Bonferroni post hoc test were used for data analysis. Results: The results showed that psychological abilities training had a significant effect on students' competitive anxiety and self-esteem. Also, there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of effectiveness (P<0/001). Conclusions: Mental and speech imagery training can be used to reduce cognitive and physical anxiety and increase self-esteem in athletic students.

Keywords

• mental abilities
• cognitive anxiety
• physical anxiety
• self-confidence.