Alfonso Martínez León 4º CCAFYD

Performance in handball- Student work

Introduction
In this paper about psychology in football I analyse some studies with
psychological aspects in common. The studies talk about the psychological
aspects, the gender perspective, the importance of coaches, parents and
friends in the performance of the players..
Psychological well-being of young footballers: the key role of
relationships
Playing a sport, especially at a young age, can involve meetings and formative
experiences or vice versa become an exhausting experience and can
sometimes also be a cause of deep discomfort if relationships of trust versus
feelings of loneliness, aggregation versus exclusion, a sense of improvement
versus demotivation and a sense of doubt are not well managed. Moreover, the
higher the level of competition, the more sporting commitments increase and
the more difficult it is to reconcile sport with studies. The expectations of the
young person and the context usually increase.
Therefore, going deeper into the subject while keeping the focus on the well-
being of young athletes seems relevant in coherence with a holistic perspective,
and specifically with the psychosocial approach, which emphasises how the
well-being or discomfort of each person is influenced by his/her life context and
in particular by the quality of the relationships with the people who are
significant for him/her.
Materials and methods
Participants
The sample consisted of 415 young male football players from two professional
(League A and B, N = 127), two semi-professional (League C, N = 162) and four
amateur (N = 128) Italian youth football academies aged between 14 and 20
years (M age = 16.2, SD = 1.51).
Measures
Sociodemographic information
Participants were asked to give details about their age, month of birth,
nationality (also for their parents), siblings, parents' level of education and some
sport-related details, such as sports played in the family, other sports played in
the past, sports played by siblings, and current injuries.
Psychological well-being
Psychological well-being was measured using Ryff's PWB scale ( Ryff, 1989 ;
Ryff and Keyes, 1995 ; Italian version by Sirigatti et al., 2009). Ryff's PWB scale
is composed of 18 items, rated on a four-point Likert scale, ranging from (1)
"strongly disagree" to (4) "strongly agree".
 Alfonso Martínez León 4º CCAFYD

Relationship with the coach

The Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (Jowett and Ntoumanis, 2004) is
used to measure the bond between the athlete and the coach. The Coach-
Athlete Relationship Questionnaire consists of 11 items measuring three
dimensions: commitment (e.g., "I am committed to my coach"), ω = 0.800;
closeness (e.g., "I like my coach"), ω = 0.836; and complementarity (e.g.,
"When my coach coaches me, I respond to his or her efforts"), ω = 0.782.
Relationship with teammates
The items were rated on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from (1) "not at all" to
(5) "very much".
Relationship with parents
For the 28 items, players respond twice to the introductory segment "I feel that
my mother/father...", and the items are rated on a five-point Likert scale, ranging
from (1) "not at all" to (5) "very much".
Procedure
The total duration of each data collection session was 30-45 min.
Results
Specifically, in our study, elite athletes perceive higher levels of meaning in life,
have higher levels of closeness with their coach, and also perceive their parents
to be more supportive of a learning climate in sport. Such results underline that
not only do relationships affect players' PWB, but also that elite players have
higher levels of PWB and better types of relationships with significant others.
We consider this as evidence for our initial hypothesis: having better
relationships inside and outside sport can be considered as one of the
psychosocial factors that help players to develop more effectively, as they
promote PWB, which in turn helps them to stay engaged in sport and cope
better with transitions and difficulties.

Determining Factors of Psychological Performance and Differences

among Age Categories in youth footbal players
In sport, as well as the physical, technical and tactical aspects, the
psychological aspects are considered one of the most important components in
performance and success. At a high level, when performance is not what it was
supposed to be, there is a growing interest in the main reason for that
performance, such as mental toughness, which is a specific mental capacity
related to sports, but also to well-being. Psychological well-being is directly
related to mental toughness by considering the resources an individual
possesses to overcome adversity and become stronger, but it also implies
proactivity towards seeking opportunities for growth and development of new
skills. In addition, it has been shown that high values of mental toughness and
 Alfonso Martínez León 4º CCAFYD

mental skills have a negative correlation with elements such as depression or

perceived stress, being determinants of the competitive level of players, also
affecting their well-being. The improvement of mental strength has a direct
relationship with the mental health of the player, so the development of these
mental abilities by the coaching staff is considered key to ensure their
psychological health, contributing directly to physical fitness and athletic
performance.
Participants
118 male football players between 14-18 years old and 8-10 years of expertise
in football
Measures
To assess mental strength through Loehr's model, the Spanish version of the
original Psychological Performance Inventory was used. This inventory consists
of constructing a profile of the weak and strong points of the athlete with the 42
items ranging from 1 to 5 on a Likert-type scale across seven dimensions:
1. self-confidence
2. control of negative energy
3. control of positive energy
4.attention control
5.visual and image control
6.motivational level
7.attitude control.

Procedures
The questionnaires were distributed individually by age on an afternoon without
training. Each coach was outside the rooms while the players completed the
questionnaire.
Results
Negative energy control showed the lowest and highest values in the U14 and
U19 categories, while attention control showed clear and significant differences
between the U19, U14 and U16 categories.
The highest values in U19 and U14 and the lowest values in the dimensions
were in "visual and image control and motivational level".
Conclussion
The best results for all variables were obtained in the U19 category, especially
for negative energy control, attention control, visual and image control, and
 Alfonso Martínez León 4º CCAFYD

motivation level. The different dimensions of mental toughness showed a

positive and progressive trend with increasing age up to the U19 category, but
decreased slightly in the semi-professionals.

Psychological and Sport-specific characteristics of football players

Could the psychological characteristics of a player influence the way he plays
football?
A group of 588 football players were studied using questionnaires and football
reaction time tests. The following questionnaires were used to assess
psychological characteristics: the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, the State
Competitive Anxiety Test and the StateTrait-Anger-Expression-Inventory.
Playing football requires mental preparation and psychological skills. Therefore,
we can hypothesise that players in different categories have different levels of
physical and psychological performance.
Materials and methods
Three questionnaires ACSI, SCAT and STAXI were used. The reaction time of
the player was examined by means of a simple electronic device in which the
player pressed a button to receive the optical signal. The reaction time was
lower in low level groups

Sample
A total of 588 playuers form Germany, France and Czech Republic was studied
Phsychological Characteristics
Young players of high skill level had fewer worries about their performance and
player 14 to 16 y/o reported significantly more peaking under pressure and
better concentration than lower level players

Physochological Gender and Emotional Intelligence in youth female

soccer players
In football more and more women are deciding to become athletes, but it is
stereotypically perceived as a male activity. We are going to analyse the
psychological profile of female players who are going to become professional
athletes, as this can give us an insight into the specific character and show us
where improvements can be made in training programmes. It is important to
study the psychological gender that determines social behaviours and
emotional intelligence.
Subjects
 Alfonso Martínez León 4º CCAFYD

In total there were 54 girls in secondary school, of which some of them go to

sports classes and the others are in the Polish national team.
Methods
The research questionnaires used were the IPP (Gender Assessment
Inventory) and the INTE (Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire).
Results
According to the scores obtained with the IPP questionnaire, the psychological
gender of the female footballers were:
-35 androgynous
-3 non-sexed
-9 male
-7 female
According to the emotional intelligence, established by the INTE questionnaire,
the androgynous ones showed a significant level of emotional intelligence, while
the other participants had a medium level of emotional intelligence.
Conclussion
The results of this study showed that androgynous athletes who played team
sports had better emotional intelligence, better emotional balance, more efficacy
and less psychological cost in sport.
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