Kulikova O.V.
(Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty,
University "Turan")
PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL STATES OF ATHLETES, AFFECTING THEIR RESULTS
AND SPORTS CAREER
Sport, as we know, is an integral part of physical culture, in which the main emphasis is on the
physical development of a person, strengthening his health and well-being. However, it is necessary
to distinguish between professional and amateur sports. Athletes are involved in professional sports
aimed precisely at achieving certain results in their physical activity, at achieving victory and new
sports records. Sports competitions, among which the Olympics, Championships and Tournaments
bring out the best athletes. Therefore, we can say that professional sports are a constant stress. The
activities of these athletes are aimed primarily at the result. Stress is characterized by a state of
increased body tension, a kind of protective reaction to the effects of physical, mental, psychosocial
and other stresses. At the moment of stress, the body works at the limit of its physical, mental and
emotional capabilities. Emotional experiences of a person to external circumstances and their own
activities, the reaction to them is far from always accessible to full conscious control and
management. Often, even though we are aware of them, we still cannot bend them to our will. Thus,
as we can see, the activity of an athlete is characterized by special emotional states that reflect the
specifics of this activity and are defined as "sports emotions" [1]. They arise in the process of
performing sports tasks with certain relationships between people acting in the conditions of sports
competitions. Having arisen in the process of a specific activity, these emotions themselves have an
impact on the actions performed, on their effectiveness. They can increase the performance of an
athlete, activating the vital processes of the body, stimulating and motivating the actions and behavior
of an athlete, or, on the contrary, at the most crucial moment, have a negative effect. Usually there
are three types of emotional states of athletes before the starts [2]:
1. The state of combat readiness (enthusiasm) - the optimal degree of nervous and emotional
excitement. The athlete feels the rise of strength, energy and activity. He is sure of success, looks
forward to the start, intends to fight with full dedication of his strength and fight to the end to achieve
the goal. He has heightened perception, attention is focused on the upcoming activity, thinking is
carried out quickly, is characterized by criticality and flexibility. The athlete has a high noise
immunity to adverse factors (critical remarks of the coach, refereeing mistakes, negative reaction of
the audience, provocations of opponents, etc.). In general, this state is characterized by general
composure.
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2. Prelaunch (prestart) fever appears with a strong desire to achieve success, accompanied by
strong emotional excitement. There is an instability of experiences (some experiences are quickly
replaced by others that are opposite in nature), which in behavior leads to capriciousness,
stubbornness and rudeness in relations with the environment, to a decrease in self-criticism. Memory
suffers, attention is scattered (the athlete cannot concentrate, is distracted by unnecessary details),
perception and ideas are fragmentary, flexibility and logic of thinking decrease, sleep is disturbed. In
such cases the hands and feet tremble, are cold , the facial features are sharpened, a feverish spotted
blush appears on the cheeks. The athlete shows fussiness, haste, inadequately responds to common
stimuli. The ability to relax worsens, coordination of movements is disturbed. There are also instances
of fear. Generally speaking, this is a state of overexcitation and stress.
3. Prelaunch apathy. Often, a long-term emotional arousal of an athlete turns into inhibition.
Apathy is accompanied by general lethargy, drowsiness, a decrease in the speed of movements and a
deterioration in coordination, a weakening of attention and perception processes, a weakening of
volitional processes; self-doubt, fear of an opponent, etc. Thus, prelaunch apathy is characterized by
a general decline in psycho-emotional and physical states. However, O.A. Chernikova identifies
several more psycho-emotional states, which she characterizes as [1]:
1. Sports excitement - a state of increased activity, a kind of feeling of struggle to achieve the
goal. It is characterized by an active positive emotional state of a general upsurge of strength, a belief
in the possibility of winning success, a desire to fight and win. It can occur even before the start of
the performance in the competition and grow as the wrestling intensifies. At the decisive moments of
this struggle, it can reach its maximum intensity, turning into a state of sports inspiration or fighting
enthusiasm when gaining an advantage. A necessary condition for achieving good results in
competitions, as working capacity increases.
2. Combat enthusiasm - a state that embraces an athlete in moments of intense sports struggle.
Combat inspiration is experienced as a state of a special rise in strength, a surge of energy, unshakable
confidence in the success of one's efforts, selfless joy of struggle, a thirst for active action, a sense of
strength.
In a state of combat inspiration, athletes are able to overcome the maximum difficulties for
themselves, they accept and carry out the most daring ideas, risky decisions in order to achieve
victory. And it gives them pleasure and joy. However, this state of affairs cannot last long. It
accompanies, as a rule, the most responsible and critical moments of the competition, when one or
another athlete fights for victory with all his dedication.
3. A gaming or sports passion also arises in the process of a sports competition. Its source is
variable success, which leads to new efforts of struggle, in which each individual success brings the
goal closer. In this state, the athlete thinks only about wrestling. In a state of sports enthusiasm, the
athlete does not feel tired, does not notice pain, he is obsessed with only one desire to win. In the heat
of passion, an athlete sometimes gets too excited, and then he can even forget about the rules of the
game, make tactical mistakes, waste his energy uneconomically.
Sports excitement should be distinguished from healthy sports passion with its passionate
emotionality. In excitement, rudeness is often allowed, forbidden tricks are used, and immoral acts
are committed. The athlete forgets about sports goals - to achieve high performance and seeks to
suppress the enemy's offensive by any means.
4. "Sports anger" is a kind of sports emotion that usually arises suddenly in the process of
wrestling as a reaction to a failed intention or an unfulfilled attempt to gain an advantage in success,
when the possibility of achieving the goal is distant. This emotion is experienced as a feeling of active
protest, unwillingness to come to terms with failure. It is characterized by a certain amount of
aggressiveness. However, it differs from the usual feelings of anger, malice and rather approaches
the experience of disappointment, as it contains dissatisfaction with oneself, one's unsuccessful
actions and a desire to prove oneself fully, to prevent a new failure or defeat. Covered by a flash of
"sports anger", the athlete quickly mobilizes, shows maximum effort and can sometimes
unexpectedly and in a short time achieve what seemed to be unattainable success.
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5. Sports pride is a complex moral feeling characteristic of qualified athletes and expressed in
a positive emotional attitude to success or victory justly won at the cost of great efforts. Sports pride
includes the experience of sublime satisfaction and evaluative attitude to the high social significance
of the obtained sports result. Thus, the winners of the Olympic Games are rightfully proud of their
championship on the world stage. They experience a legitimate sense of pride in high sporting
achievements, obtained by their efforts and approved by public opinion.
Sports pride as a positive moral feeling - respect for the social position of the winner, for the
public recognition of his dignity.
6. Sports honor also refers to the moral feelings that arise in the conditions of sports activities.
It is associated with public recognition of sports merit. Unlike sports pride, which arises and is
experienced along with the successes achieved, a sense of sports honor is experienced at moments of
perceived threat of a possible loss of these successes. The sense of sports honor expresses a moral
attitude to the protection of the social significance of sports, it encourages the athlete to be in a state
of readiness, to apply all his strength and ability to protect the high rank of an athlete, a member of a
certain public organization.
7. Sports rivalry is a kind of feeling generated by the conditions of sports wrestling, an
indispensable psychological condition for each competition, the most important incentive for
wrestling.
The feeling of rivalry is expressed in the athlete's zealous desire for superiority over other
athletes who claim the same result.
The results of the research [1] showed that the psychological structure of the emotions of sports
rivalry is always associated with self-esteem, with an assessment of the results of one's achievements,
opportunities to succeed.
As we can see, the psycho-emotional states of athletes listed above by O.A. Chernikova [1] are
designed to help them achieve success.
However, post-competitive conditions are diverse and have a heterogeneous effect on the
subsequent activity and behavior of the athlete.
Competition, the process of performance, sports result are extremely significant phenomena in
the life of an athlete. It often happens that the competition is over, and the athlete can not free himself
from the experiences associated with it. This is the so-called phenomenon of mental perseveration -
a state of emotional perseveration: the preservation of emotions after the cause that caused them has
ceased to operate, and the experience of the event continues to excite the athlete [3].
The state of frustration is also one of the frequently observed states after the competition,
expressed in feelings and behavior, caused by a feeling of insurmountable difficulties that arise on
the way to achieving the goal [4]. These conditions are often when an athlete during the training
process showed high sports results, and then unexpectedly failed performances.
It has been proven that after the competition, the athlete feels very complex mental states, the
features of which depend on many factors [5]:
1) on the result obtained, success or failure and their social significance;
2) from a result that is unexpected or corresponding to what was planned in advance;
3) from coordinating the result with the level of claims of this athlete;
4) from the intensity of the competition, the difficulties of the struggle that ensured success or
led to defeat;
5) on the athlete's personal qualities, whether he has promising goals, their correspondence with
the results shown, his volitional qualities, moral and emotional stability, etc.
Obviously, with a significant success for an athlete, of course, he experiences satisfaction. All
this increases the activity of the athlete and favors further work.
However, positive emotions may also have an adverse effect on his further sports activities,
because it can turn into complacency and carelessness. As a result, an athlete loses the true measure
of self-esteem and evaluation of rivals, begins to neglect systematic training, violates a strict regimen,
and eventually stops “growing”, loses his sporting achievements.
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In case of failure or defeat, the subjective attitudes of athletes are typical, characterized by
emotions: displeasure, grief, dissatisfaction, disappointment, resentment. Especially if the defeat of
this athlete was due to his oversight, unsuccessful tactics or shortcomings in his preparedness, as a
result, conditions arise: oppression, loss of strength, loss of confidence, depression, indifference, etc.
It happens that negative emotions of grief take on the active nature of sthenic emotions -
annoyance, dissatisfaction with an active desire to take revenge, correct mistakes or oversights in the
future, and even more actively seek victory by working to improve your sportsmanship. Such
reactions to failure are a guarantee of favorable prospects for an athlete.
In connection with the great variety of expression of emotions of sports rivalry, with the
complexity of their socio-psychological content and motivation, special attention should be paid to
the formation and education of moral manifestations and the culture of expressing these emotions in
an athlete.
As we can see, each of these states is characterized by certain shifts in the psycho-emotional
state and at each stage a “breakdown” of an athlete can occur, so it is necessary to study them, detect
and correct these states in time, taking into account the types of sports and the individual
characteristics of the mental state of athletes.
In general, it can be concluded that the psycho-emotional reactions of athletes largely depend
and change depending on individual characteristics, personality traits and sports experience.
Therefore, a sports psychologist must apply comprehensive knowledge to help the athlete, if possible,
achieve the desired result, but also to correct his mental state so that after the sport he has a normal,
adequate life.
Literature
1. Chernikova O.A. Psychological features of sports emotions / Journal "Sports Psychologist", September 2008.
2. Ilyin E.P. "Psychology of sports" section one. "Psychology of sports activity" chapter 3 "Emotional sphere of
athletes" - Publishing house "Piter", 2008.
3. Chufarovsky Yu. V. Psychology of operational-search and investigative activities: textbook. allowance. - M .:
Publishing House Prospekt, TK Velby, 2006. P. 108
4. Levitov N.D. Frustration as one of the types of mental states // Questions of Psychology. - 1967. - No. 6. - S.
118-129.
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