Coping Strategies of Elite Hungarian Junior Handball Players

Abstract

Jelen tanulmányunkban magyar utánpótlás korú (14-19 éves) kézilabdázók (n=288) sportolói megküzdési stratégiáit vizsgáltuk a nemek, életkorok és a kézilabda posztok tekintetében, AthleticCopingSkillsInventory (ACSI-28) segítségével. A Csapásokkal való megküzdés (11,69 vs. 11,00; F=2,670 p<0,01) és a Szorongásmentesség (9,94 vs. 9,12; F=2,670 p<0,01) skálákon a férfiak értek el szignifikánsan magasabb átlagot. Ezzel szemben a nők magasabb átlagot mutattak a Célkitűzés/mentális felkészültség (12,12 vs. 11,56; F=-2,121 p<0,05) és az Edző által irányíthatóság (13,28 vs. 12,12; F=-4,107 p<0,01). A Szorongásmentesség(10,55 vs. 9,88 vs. 8,83; F=6,880 p<0,01) skálán a legidősebb játékosok érték el a legmagasabb értékeket. Az Edző által irányíthatóság (F=9,617 p<0,01) a legfiatalabbak körében volt a legmagasabb. A kézilabda posztok alapján megállapíthatjuk, hogy a Koncentráció (F=2,612 p<0,05) és az Önbizalom/teljesítmény motiváció (F=3,067 p<0,05) skálákon mutatkoztak szignifikáns különbségek a csoportátlagokban. A Koncentráció tekintetében az irányítóknál látunk magas átlagot, amely szignifikánsan magasabb, mint a többi támadó poszton játszók esetében.Az Önbizalom esetében a szélsők csoportjában találhatóak a legmagasabb értékek. A tanulmányunk eredményeivel arra szeretnék felhívni a figyelmet, hogy az edzőknek a sikeres felkészülés érdekében figyelembe kell venniük a játékosaik nemét, életkorát, posztját, hiszen a teljesítmény növeléséhez elengedhetetlen a sportoló megküzdési képességeinek ismerete és a játékos önismerete.

Mental skills in Serbian handball players: In relation to the position and gender of players

“…Wings, both in male and female samples of handball players, show slightly lower mental skills. Compared to previous research that found that players in these positions score higher on self-confidence and achievement motivation ( Ökrös et al, 2020 ), the Serbian sample of wings players achieved high scores on anxiety, moderate self-confidence, and the lowest abilities of relaxation and imagination compared to other positions. It can be seen that players in the wing position would benefit most from working on mental skills, as well as players in the center back position in the form of the development of strategies to reduce competitive anxiety.…”

“…Regarding gender differences in the mental skills of handball players, the obtained results indicate that female handball players show a lower degree of anxiety regulation ability than 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.960201 male handball players but, on the other hand, show a higher degree of relaxation ability. The obtained results are in line with previous research, which found that female handball players have a somewhat lower ability to regulate emotions and less coping strategies compared to male handball players (Kristjánsdóttir et al, 2018;Ivaskevych et al, 2019;Ökrös et al, 2020). Although the results on gender differences in mental skills are inconsistent, what can be noticed is those female handball players have a higher degree of emotional arousal, which does not have to be a consequence of personality traits, but the situation itself, and that aspects of competitive anxiety and performance concerns are more present with them than with male handball players.…”

“…Obtained results are somewhat in line with previous research that shows that playmakers (center backs) score highest on subscales of mental skills directed toward attention and concentration process, goal-setting abilities, and mental preparation ( Ökrös et al, 2020 ). In our sample, male center backs achieve a higher score on these subscales which is in line with Grobbelaar and Eloff (2011) , who found that goal-attack players outperformed the other positional groups in team sports.…”

“…Similarly, in the sample of junior female handball players of the Ukrainian national team, the result shows that female handball players achieve higher scores on competitive anxiety and are more prone to self-blame compared to male handball players ( Ivaskevych et al, 2019 ). In the sample of the junior Hungarian handball team, the authors found that male handball players achieved significantly higher scores on Coping with Adversity and Freedom from worry, while female handball players scored higher scores on Goal Setting/Mental Preparation and Coachability ( Ökrös et al, 2020 ). The results suggest that male handball players have fewer concerns about performance and that they have more adaptive coping mechanisms than female handball players, as well as that female handball players, have a more pronounced ability to set goals and use mental preparation as part of their sports experience.…”

“…When it comes to different playing positions in handball and mental skills, research shows that goalkeepers, wings, and playmakers react faster when selecting adequate figures than those in the pivot or back positions ( Kiss and Balogha, 2019 ). On the other hand, one of the few studies that examined the differences in certain psychological characteristics of Hungarian junior male and female handball players in terms of age and the playing position found that playmakers score highest in terms of Ability to concentrate, Coping with Adversity, Peaking under Pressure, Goal Setting/Mental Preparation, Coachability which speaks to the high mental skills of the players in this position ( Ökrös et al, 2020 ). Namely, the playmaker is the leader of the game and, therefore, must be able to change the focus of attention from a wide to narrow focus, stay calm in tense situations and develop an action.…”