Benefits of psychological follow-up for elite women’s biathlon trainings and competitions: survey and analysis

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Dr. Hab., Associate Professor N.V. Peshkova1
PhD, Associate Professor A.A. Peshkov1
1Surgut State University, Surgut

Objective of the study was to analyze benefits of and growing need for modern psychological service for trainings and competitions in elite women’s biathlon.
Methods and structure of the study. The study with the psychological service and questionnaire survey was run in the 2020-2021 competitive season on a sample of 10 female biathletes including one International Master of Sport, eight Masters of Sport and one Candidate Master of Sport. The sample was tested by the G. Eysenck EPQ, R. Martens Competitive Trait Anxiety test; and the Well-being, Activity, Mood (WAM) test adapted by V.A. Doskin, N.A. Lavrentieva, V.B. Sharai and M.P. Miroshnikov. For the shooting fitness analysis we collected the shooting success data for 15 events of the 2020-2021 Russian Biathlon Championship.
Results and conclusion. The study found high correlations (r=0.75) between the Competitive Trait Anxiety averages and neuroticism rates on the G. Eysenck scale; plus moderate inverse correlations of the shooting success averages with the Competitive Trait Anxiety (r=-0.65) neuroticism ( r=-0.64) and psychoticism (r=-0.55). The survey found the modern psychological characteristics securing progress in the stress coping skills, albeit some individuals were found intolerant to the psychological follow-up in the training and competitive processes, particularly those tested with high competitive trait anxiety, neuroticism and psychoticism.

Keywords: biathlon, psychological characteristics, mental state, shooting component of competitive activity.

References

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