Mental training in sports preparation for skiers

Abstract

The aim of the paper was to test the impact
of mental training in sports preparation of
skiers. The basic research group consisted
of 12 skiers aged 7-11 years. To determine
their mind set we used a non-standardized
questionnaire, which was the basis for
dividing the research subjects into two
groups. The experimental group which
consisted of 7 participants had a
predominance of fixed mindset (FM). Their
decimal age was 8.3 ± 1.3 years, body
height 136.3 ± 8.8 cm, body weight 32.4 ±
11.3 kg, sports age 4.7 ± 1.4 years. The
growth mindset (GM) control group
consisted of 5 participants. Their average
decimal age was 9.7 ± 2.2, body height 142
± 14.6 cm, body weight 39.04 ± 9.2 kg,
sports age 5.2 ± 2.6 years. Sports
performance was evaluated using the
gymnastic exercise test which is part of the
general sports preparation of skiers. We
used the Wilcoxon non-parametric test at
the 5% significance level and the nonstandardized
FM and GM allocation key to
evaluate the results of the gymnastics test.
We used the Spearman correlation
coefficient to determine the relationship
between the GM points and the gymnastics
test. By analysing the results, we found that
due to mental training in the experimental
group, there was an increase in GM points
in 3 skiers compared to the control group
where there was no increase. Analysis of
the results in the gymnastic test showed
that in the experimental group there was a
statistically significant improvement
(p<0.05) in average performance for all 7
skiers. In the control group, the
improvement in the average performance
in the gymnastics test was statistically
insignificant (p˃0.05) in 4 out of 5 skiers.
The pilot study pointed out the possible
impact of using mental training in sports
preparation for skiers.