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ABSTRACT
Precompetitive states are athletes' psychological states experienced in the last days before a competition. Precompetitive states are extremely important for athletes as they have an important influence on competitive performance. Three major psychological phenomena are related to precompetitive states, i.e. anxiety, concentration and self-confidence. Different forms of mental training and various psychological techniques can be used to develop and strengthen positive such states. Our study was conducted on members of the Slovenian national league basketball team (N=11) who participated in our mental preparation programme with the aim of achieving more positive precompetitive states. Prior to and following completion of the mental training, team members completed the following questionnaires: CSAI (Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2), SAS (Sport Anxiety Scale), STAI (Sport Anxiety Scale) and the TP Attention Test. The mental preparation programme lasted 12 weeks and consisted of relaxation techniques, positive self-talk, hypnotic suggestions, concentration techniques and visualisation techniques. Analysis of the data obtained prior to and after completion of the mental preparation programme showed an improvement in the ability to concentrate and a reduction of precompetitive state anxiety. Further, a slight tendency towards an improvement in self-confidence was noticed. The measured trait anxiety levels were also reduced. In general, the mental preparation programme incorporating various psychological techniques proved to be efficient.
Key words: anxiety, concentration, self-confidence, precompetitive states
POVZETEK
Predtekmovalna stanja so psihicna stanja sportnika od nekaj dni do zacetka tekme. Predtekmovalna stanja so za sportnike zelo pomembna, saj imajo le-ta pomembno vlogo pri kvaliteti nastopa na tekmi. Za predtekmovalna stanja so pomembni predvsem trije veliki psiholoski fenomeni: anksioznost, koncentracija in samozavest. Za razvijanje in krepitev predtekmovalnih stanj lahko uporabljamo razlicne mentalne treninge in psiholoske tehnike. V raziskavo smo vkljucili kosarkarsko ekipo (N=11), s katero smo izvajali program psihicne priprave, z namenom izboljsanja predtekmovalnih stanj. Ekipo smo testirali pred zacetkom in po koncu psihicne priprave, z vprasalniki CSAI (Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2), SAS (Sport anxiety scale), STAI (Sport anxiety scale) ter testom pozornosti (Test of attention). Program psihicne priprave je trajal dvanajst tednov in je zajemal tehnike sproscanja, pozitivnega samogovora, hipnoticnih sugestij, tehnik koncentracije in vizualizacije. Rezultati analize podatkov pred in po koncu psihicne priprave so pokazali, da je bil napredek viden pri sposobnosti koncentracije in v znizanju somatske predtekmovalne anksioznosti. Nakazana je tudi...