Title of diploma paper: Effect of anxiety on the athlete's sports performance in flatwater canoeing. Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out the values of competitive state anxiety and evaluate its influence on sports performance in a race. Methods: The questionnaire method CSAI-2 has been used to determine the values of the components of competitive state anxiety. The observed values were statistically compared with the standards of the best athletes and then analyzed with the performances of athletes in individual races. The dependence of the variable values was determined by correlation and regression analysis. Results: Flatwater kayakers and canoeists have higher cognitive and somatic anxiety and lower self- confidence compared to other athletes. In the test group flatwater kayakers, we managed to demonstrate that the higher the values of cognitive and somatic anxiety, the higher the negative effect on the athlete's sports performance. Higher values of self-confidence affect performance positively. The dependence of the variable values has been identified as medium to high at the 5% significance level. In the case of flatwater canoeists, this dependence has not been statistically proven. Self-confidence of the athlete is positively affected by higher age and experience. Keywords:...

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Title: Competitive anxiety in female gymnasts: Association with age and length of sports career Objectives: The main aim of the diploma thesis is to describe levels of competitive anxiety and its association to age and length of sports career in young female gymnasts from Prague. Methods: The thesis has a character of empirical and theoretical research and includes elements of quantitative research with an application of a survey. Specifically the thesis represents a cross-sectional study. A multidimensional questionnaire, the Competitive state anxiety investory-2 was administered to a sample of N = 18 female gymnasts. The questionnaire consists of three subscales measuring: somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety, self-confidence. Data were analyzed using basic descriptive statistics, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to examine the hypotheses about relationships. Results: The results have shown that age is related to somatic and cognitive anxiety, whereas both components of competitive anxiety increase with increasing age. On the other hand age was not associated with self- confidence. The length of sports career was positively associated with somatic anxiety and self-confidence, however was not related to cognitive anxiety. Keywords: activation, emotions, cognitive anxiety, somatic...

Anxiety is one of the most studied research topics in sport psychology literature (Guillen & Sanchez, 2009); however, even though the Olympics are considered to be one of the most pressure-filled sporting events (Birrer, Wetzel, Schmidt, & Morgan, 2012), to date there has been no research aimed specifically at investigating Olympic athletes’ competitive state anxiety and its impact on subsequent performance. Furthermore, according to Nesti (2011), in order to support athletes in dealing with their experience of anxiety, researchers must turn towards the phenomenological, real-lived experience of the athlete to uncover what might best support positive anxiety management and interpretation in competition. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to respond to the gap in Olympic athlete anxiety research by examining the phenomenological experience of competitive state anxiety for female beach volleyball players at the 2012 London Olympics. Six in-depth, phenomenological interviews were conducted with these Olympic female beach volleyball players. Results indicated that, while all athletes in this study experienced anxiety at the 2012 Olympics, it was not the reduced intensity of anxiety that positively impacted their performance but rather the athletes’ ability to recognize, manage, and positively interpret their anxiety. In addition, it was shown that self-confidence further buffered the potentially negative impacts of anxiety. It is recommended that future research focus on extending phenomenological anxiety research to other sports and genders, and to specifically examine the impact of trait anxiety, team dynamics, and the experience of flow on athletes’ anxiety interpretation.