Sport psychological skills are associated with performance in sport. Furthermore it is stated that
there are also gender differences with regards to sport psychological skills. The sport
psychological profiles of successful and less successful athletes also differ from each other. One
hundred and sixty two grade 8 learners with a mean age of 13.2±0.33 years from a High School
in Potchefstroom in the North-West province of South Africa were tested. The participants were
subjected to the Australian Talent Search Protocol as well as the Athletic Coping Skills
Inventory – 28 (ACSI-28) and a demographic questionnaire which collected the general
information of participants were completed. Firstly, the group was divided into two groups by
means of a median split on the Australian Talent Search Protocol which resulted in a talented
group of 16 adolescents and 146 less talented adolescents. The talented adolescents outscored
their less talented counterparts in all seven sport psychological variables with statistically
significant better scores in coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, goal setting,
confidence and coachability. Secondly the group of 162 participants was divided into two groups
according to gender which resulted in male group of 77 and female group of 85. The male and
female adolescent sport participants did not differ significantly in any of the sport psychological
skills. All sport psychological skills revealed a small practical significance. The male group
obtained better scores in peaking under pressure, goal setting, freedom from worry, selfconfidence
and average coping ability. The female group obtained better scores in coping with
adversity, concentration and coachability.
Therefore, although a relationship exists between sport performance and sport psychological
skills there are a few factors such as maturation and cognitive development that can influence
sport psychological skills and development. / MSc (Sport Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/10748 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Kemp, Ri-Ellen |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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