RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATHLETIC COPING

SKILLS AND MENTAL TOUGHNESS AMONG

BADMINTON PLAYERS

S I D D H A N T YA D AVA

M S C S P O RT S C O A C H I N G

S U P E RV I S O R : - D R . S H YA M S U N D A R R AT H
INTRODUCTION

 “Coping refers to behavior that protects people from being psychologically harmed by problematic
social experience, a behavior that importantly mediates the impact that societies have to their
members” Pearlin & Schooler (1978).
 Studies on the effectiveness of coping skills showed that professional athletes have greater strategies in
handling stress situations, demonstrated superb showmanship for enhancing their sporting performance
(Cresswell & Hodge, 2001; Dugdale, Eklund, & Gordon, 2002; Eubank & Collins, 2000; Gould,
Eklund, & Jackson, 1993; Haney & Long, 1995).

- Neil Armstrong
 Jones et al 2002, (p. 209) defined MT as “the psychological edge that enables one to cope with
competition, training, and lifestyle demands; and be more consistent and better than the opponents’
coping mechanisms. It helps the athlete to remain determined, focused, confident, and in control under
pressure”.
 Coping and mental toughness are multifaceted constructs with meaningful association. They are not
mutually exclusive; as both require some degree of the other to be effectively expressed. Nicholls and
Polman (2007), Nicholls et al (2008) state an obvious relationship between coping and mental
toughness. However, few studies have explored this link.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The problem is stated “Relationship between athletic coping skills and mental toughness among badminton
players”.
OBJECTIVE OF THE
STUDY
To explore whether there is any relationship between Athletic coping skills and mental toughness among
badminton players.
 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The finding of this study will add to existing knowledge of psychological variables and their requirement
for Badminton players.

Will help the players to understand their psychological parameters.

The finding of the study will assist in designing a suitable training or coaching plan for the Badminton
players.

The study will help the players in controlling their psychological variables at the time of competition.
Hypothesis

To meet with the objective of the study it is hypothesised that:

 There will be a correlation between Athletic Coping Skills and mental toughness among Badminton
Players.
Delimitations
The study will be delimited to the university level male and female Badminton players only.

The age of the subjects will be in the rang of 18-25 years.

20 players from National Sports University will be selected for the study.

Appropriate as well as standardized questionnaires will be used to collect data.

The study will be further delimited to the selected variables only.

Limitations
The responses being given by the subject will not be under control of the researcher.

No specific motivational device will be adopted to motivate or discourage the subject during the experimentation.

Experience and training schedule will not considered.

Interest of the subject toward this test will being unknown.

Weather and environment conditions can not be controlled.

Eating habits of subjects can not be controlled.

REVIEW OF RELATED
LITERATURE
METHODOLOGY
Selection of Sample
20 Badminton players of National Sports University, Manipur, age ranged between 18 Years to 25 years will be
selected through convenience sampling.

Selection of Variables
 Athletic Coping Skills

 Mantal Toughness
 PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOLS USED

1) Athletic coping skills Inventory (ACSI) developed by Smith et al. (1994): Used for
measuring athletic coping skills of athletes.

Value of significance for different subscale ranges from - 0.66 to 0.80

2) Depression anxiety stress scale (DASS) developed by Lovibond & Lovibond
(1995): DASS measures the emotional state of depression, anxiety, and stress. The present study
used DASS-21 developed by Lovibond and Lovibond (1995). For DASS-21, there are seven items in
each of the subscales.

Value of significance- 0.961

Research Design
 The research design for the study is Correlation Design in which Athletic Coping Skills and Mental
Toughness variables will be assessed.

Procedure
The participants will be given a preamble about the study and then an informed consent will be taken from
each participant. Only those players who consented to participate in the study will be taken. ACSI will be
administered to assess athletic coping skills and DASS-21 will be administered to assess Depression,
anxiety and stress among the badminton players when they came for their regular training.
Statistical Technique
Pearson’s Correlation statistics will be applied to see the correlation between the subscales of ACSI and
DASS-21 among the badminton players using SPSS.
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