3. Applied psychological components in sports

3.1. The issue of motivation, highlighting the motivation for performance

We have to deal with the issue of athletic performance motivation as a key competence, as this area largely provides the basis for the athlete’s level of achievement in sporting activities, along with the results of the goal tests. To do this, we need to take into account the questions of internal and sending motivation, the direct and indirect paths of coaching and individual athlete motivation, the role of the control place and the need for a sense of competence.

We can say that athletes with internal motivation (internal motivation) even give the maximum of their knowledge, abilities and efforts when their performance has no stakes or no one is watching them; These athletes basically want to prove themselves and exercise for their own pleasure. On the other hand, athletes with external motivation perform sporting activities to gain an out-of-money reward (for example, money), if there is no longer a sender’s reward, they lose their motivation and their performance can be reduced. Sports leaders and coaches basically focus on internal motivation, consider the existence or development of this motivation more important, but there are sports events where it may be more effective to develop external motivation (for example, when testing spotting activity when a favourite partner or an athlete icon or role model) for the sake of the children). In addition, it is an important factor in motivation to influence the level of athlete motivation by direct and indirect methods. Such coaches may be a direct method when they consider the use of external rewards and / or penalties to be appropriate. An example of this is if the coach anticipates some reward for the athlete’s victory, it also happens, but for the athlete’s performance it is not very good to promise to reduce the intensity of the workout after a won tournament.

It is also not very useful, but it is a common practice that the coach tries to punish the coach by doubling the number of workouts in the event of a defeat, which can be a joy for an athlete who may have enjoyed the training so far using a direct motivation tool. This method is likely to produce results for a long time at beginner athletes, but in the long run, this method may not be successful as it cannot be a real coaching interest that only avoids rewards and punishments (in this particular example, just in terms of training) the athlete, the athletic endeavour to achieve realistic goals is also required. Another typical direct motivation method can be motivation associated with a good relationship between the trainer and the athlete through the pursuit of coaching expectations. At this point, the athlete would like to maintain a good relationship at all costs, and to achieve this, the coach would appreciate the success of the competition, a phenomenon that can provide a good motivational base for achieving a high level of sports performance. Indirect coaching can be a motivational method to motivate an athlete by improving an external factor or condition, for example, with a promise of better training partners or a more advanced training hall or track.

In terms of the athlete’s division of the athlete, the athletes and coaches prefer the internal controlled athletes, as these athletes rely more on their own abilities and efforts than on luck or other external causes in their success or even in failures in the external controlled athletes. they found it more difficult to set higher goals. In this context, external controlled athletes tend to set targets that are too high or too low. A general coaching method for developing internal control, typically in training sessions, in a smaller number of competitive situations, is where the athlete can clearly experience the results of his / her own invested efforts and workouts, helping the athlete’s realistic goals and responsibilities.

In sport, the need for a sense of competence is experienced by the athlete’s environment recognizing and admiring the athlete’s performance and, in accordance with this, the athlete is aware of his outstanding sports performance and abilities. this can have a positive impact on the athlete’s self-esteem and the development of his own beliefs.

3.2. The issue of anxiety, highlighting competition anxiety

Generally speaking, anxiety-causing situations in the sport are also individual colours and worth exploring with a unique athlete’s background, so while a competitive situation is experienced by an athlete as an exciting, challenging situation, for another athlete this can cause almost unbearable anxiety. In order to shade this image, it is also worth considering that, based on the sport psychological analyses, the different sports are grouped according to the level of general activity characteristic to them and for the pursuit of sport (Budavári, 2007, cited by Tóth, 2010).

According to this, extreme levels of excitement are required, for example, the long-term numbers of swimming and canoeing, cycling, weightlifting and athletic throwing numbers. A strong level of excitement is required for short-term floating and running numbers and for fighting sports. Medium levels of excitement are required for ball games and track jumps, while low levels of excitement are required for fencing. There is a particularly low level of excitement in the sport of gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, shooting and archery. The picture is further underlined by the fact that different competitive situations and game situations may require different levels of tension within a given sport, so in a water polo, human catching protection requires a high level of arousal, and penalty throwing can be the best in a low level of excitement. To do this, the athlete must be able to flexibly change the adaptation to different tension levels in different game situations. It should also be emphasized that one of the most complex sports psychological issues is the treatment of athletic anxiety in competitive situations. Regarding the activation status of individual athletes, this is in luck with the level of tension or activation required for a particular sport. Generally speaking, low and too high tension levels negatively affect sports performance. Thus, in the case of an excessively high level of anxiety, skeletal muscle tension, palpitations, palms sweating and dry mouth can be experienced by the athlete, often with urinary stimulation, diarrhoea and respiratory problems. Low tension levels can appear in the form of fatigue or lethargy; yawning can also indicate low arousal levels. The level of self-confidence and self-confidence of individual and team athletes may also be significantly different, due to the individual responsibility of the athletes in individual sports, while this responsibility is shared among team members in team sports.

3.3. The importance of attention in sports performance

The level of attention and scope of athletes in training and competitive situations is constantly changing. In general, different sports require different attention. Nideffer (1989, cited by Tóth, 2010) classified sports in the direction and extent of attention. Thus, the direction of attention can be inward and outward, and attention can be narrow or wide. Based on this, the following four types of athlete attention were defined along the two dimensions:

• Wide, inward attention, • Wide, outward attention, • Narrow inward attention • Narrow, outward attention.

Nideffer (1989, cited by Tóth, 2010) also categorized different sports according to the direction (internal and external) and extent of their attention style (broad and narrow). This was described by Budavári (2007, cited by Tóth, 2010) on the basis of the sport’s compliance with the attention pattern:

"Internal, narrow-focused sports:

  • running,
  • swimming,
  • speed skating,
  • cycling;
  • the track record of athletics;
  • weightlifting,
  • long jump;
  • canoeing,
  • rowing.

Internal, broad-focused sports:

  • gymnastics,
  • rhythmic sports gymnastics;
  • figure skating,
  • diving;
  • high jump,
  • pole vaulting;
  • hurdles.

External, broad focused sports:

  • combat sports,
  • sports games
  • fencing,
  • tennis,
  • table tennis.

External, narrow-focused sports:

  • archery,
  • shooting,
  • chess,
  • golf. ”(Budavári, 2007, cited by Tóth, 2010)

3.4. Aggression in sport

Nowadays, aggressive behaviour is unnecessarily high in sports (with emotional uplifting and, in many cases, the pursuit of forced victory). The struggling parties, whether individual or team-level, strive not only to defeat the opponent, but also to completely defeat them to ever win. We must also take into account that the aggression in sport is different from the aggression that occurs in everyday life, that not only is the enemy’s impulse directed against another person, athlete or team, but also as part of the struggle to win the first place (Nagy, 2002, cited by Tóth, 2010). Written and unwritten rules and customary rights in sporting competitions tend to put athlete aggression in an acceptable bed, but even with them, they can cause serious injuries (appearing on the physical and physical levels). In general, most aggressive athletic manifestations are typical of combat sports, as it is a part of the sport’s struggle for contact sports, and it is also true that the way to victory is through the physical destruction of the opponent. However, aggression in team games (such as basketball, handball or football) can in many cases lead to more serious injuries, such as the severity of the beats suffered in boxing. For example, basketball is one of the most dangerous sports (Tóth, 2010).

CHECKING ISSUES

  1. How could you define the issue of motivation?
  2. What is the definition of competition anxiety?
  3. What is the importance of attention in sports performance?
  4. What are the roles of aggression in sports?