Personality characteristics and competitive anxiety in individual and team athletes.

The purposes of this study were to investigate differences in personality and competitive anxiety depending on types of sports and gender, and to determine the influence of personality on competitive anxiety. Participants included 237 athletes (134 men and 103 women) who participated in the Thailand University Games, 2020. They were classified as individual (n = 114) and team (n = 123) athletes. Personality characteristics and competitive anxiety were assessed by using NEO five-factor inventory and sport competitive anxiety test. Differences between individual and team athletes and between gender were tested by using independent t-test. Relationships between personality and competitive anxiety were analyzed by using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. Moreover, multiple regression analysis was used to measure the contributions of personality on competitive anxiety. The results showed that competitive anxiety was significant difference between individual and team athletes (p = 0.03, d = 0.28). However, there was no difference in personality between groups. When compared between gender, there were significant differences in competitive anxiety (p < 0.001, d = 0.52) and the agreeableness (p = 0.04, d = -0.26) component of personality between female and male athletes. From the correlation analyzes, four characteristics of personality showed significant associations with competitive anxiety including neuroticism (r = -0.472, ρ < 0.001), extraversion (r = 0.184, ρ = 0.005), agreeableness (r = 0.147, ρ = 0.024), and conscientiousness (r = 0.202, ρ = 0.002). Among five personality factors, the neuroticism had minimally negative effect on competitive anxiety (ß = -0.52) with percentage of prediction of 22%. These can be concluded that types of sport and gender are the important factors affecting personality and competitive anxiety. The athletes with certain personality traits were more susceptible to competitive anxiety. Importantly, the neuroticism could serve as a prediction of the competitive anxiety in all collegiate athletes.

The effects of post activation potentiation warm-up and pre-shot routine programs on driving performance in amateur golfers.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of three different programs, i.e. active dynamic warm-up program plus functional resistance warm-up using Theraband plus pre-shot routine program (AFPR); pre-shot routine program (PR); and active dynamic warm-up program plus functional resistance warm-up using Theraband (AF) on driver club head speed, driving distance, and driving accuracy in the amateur golfers. Fifteen amateur golfers with an average age of 19.67 ± 0.89 years and 4.87 ± 1.77 points of average handicap were assigned to participate in either AFPR, PR or AF program. All participants in the three programs practiced three sessions on non-consecutive days per week during the intervention phase. Each participant's performance was assessed before and after six weeks of the program through hitting ten maximal drives with the ball flight and swing analyzed using the P3ProSwing Golf Simulator and recorded for the driver club head speed, driving distance, and driving accuracy. Multivariate analysis of variance showed no statistically significant differences (P < .05) of the performances of the golfers participated in the 3 programs (club head speed: F = 1.02, P = 0.33; accuracy: F = 0.32, P = 0.72; distance: F = 0.18, P = 0.83). Furthermore, a paired t-tests also showed no statistically significant (P < .05) improvement occurred in the 3 programs after the six-week training. Although the effect of the 3 programs did not show statistically significant increase in the performance of the amateur golfers, however, the three parameters of the performance, i.e. the driver club head speed, the driving distance and the driving accuracy showed certain improvements. The 3 training programs may have benefit to the amateur golfers with certain increases of their performance.

A Systematic Review of Psychological Studies Applied to Futsal.

This study presents a systematic review of psychological studies applied to futsal. A total of 23 studies were analyzed within five sections: a year overview and the name of journals, research designs, data collection, sample characteristics, and a focus category. This study found that the first psychological articles that were applied to futsal were published in 2008, and the number of publications gradually increased since then. The majority of examined studies were cross-sectional designs and conducted at the elite level in European and Asian countries. Most studies did not use mixed methods and did not specify the age of the subjects. Psychological research applied to futsal focused on athletes, non-athletes and several psychological factors. Critical and innovative reflections were made to highlight research gaps and present suggestions for further research.