The purpose – to substantiate empirically a differentiated approach to the regulation of pre-start condition of swimmers at the training stage, taking into account the temperament type and anxiety level.
Methods and organization of the research. We used the following research methods: analysis of data in scientific publications; psychological testing; questionnaires; analysis of competitive performance; mathematical and statistical processing of the studied indicators. The study involved 40 swimmers at the training stage. The athletic experience of the tested subjects is 4 years; the level of sports qualification-II-III sports categories.
Results and discussion. Anxiety level tests of young swimmers revealed that personal and situational anxiety of individuals with various temperament types corresponds to the average level of anxiety, except for the "adequate" temperament type, which corresponds to a low level of anxiety. The group of subjects with the "adequate" temperament type (10.8%) exhibited the most significant increase in athletic performance in the 800 m freestyle, while the increase of performance of the group of subjects with "calm" and "intensive" temperaments was 2.1% and 2.7% lower, respectively. The group with the “adequate” temperament type exhibited the most significant increase in athletic performance in the 200 m IM (10.2%). There are statistically significant differences in results between the "adequate" and "calm" groups (p<0.05), "adequate" and "intensive" groups (p<0.05). The analysis of start reaction time of the individuals with studied temperament types did not reveal any statistically significant differences (p>0.05). At the same time, the authors found that individuals with "calm" and "adequate" temperament types have a greater reliability of the start reaction time.
Conclusion. The research outcomes show the significance of particular consideration for temperament types and indicators of personal and situational anxiety in the process of regulation of pre-start condition of swimmers at the training stage. Particular attention should be given to the athletes with "calm" and "intensive" temperament types.