Psychological skills of elite athletes in different ball games

The identification of the quality and quantity of skills that the elite athletes acquire should assist to the successful identification and selection of the best athletes in each competitive level of sports. For the purpose of this study, a laboratory experiment was conducted using four groups of elite athletes of different ball games or age and one control group. The first group was elite junior basketball players 14-15 years of age, the second group was men basketball players 22 - 23 years of age, the third group consisted by elite Volleyball players of 20 - 21 years, a group of elite men polo players of 19 - 20 of age and one control group (non-athletes) were compared in order to determine the differences in certain psychological abilities. Self efficacy, concentration, peaking underpressure, confidence and achievement motivation, coping with adversity, goal setting and mental preparation, freedom from worry and coachablity were therefore compared. Discriminant analysis showed that for all the groups the psychological variables that discriminate them were goal setting and mental preparation, peaking under pressure and confidence and achievement motivation. Moreover, analytic ability was higher in the elite men basketball players compared to the elite junior players.The elite athletes were better than the control group in variables coping with adversity, goal setting and mental preparation. The elite men basketball players were better than the elite junior basketball players and the control group in the variable peaking under pressure and the elite men basketball players scored higher than the elite junior basketball players in freedom of worry and self efficacy.