Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2013)

Author(s):
Rajpal Singh Dhanda

Abstract:
Sports psychologists have long believed that high levels of cognitive anxiety during competition are harmful, worsening performance and even leading to dropout. The instrument used for the study comprised of a 27-item Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2 and The Psychological Performance Inventory which had been distributed during sport between universities competition. The sample consisted of 113 Track and Field players, including the national athletes (N=37), state athletes (N=38), district athletes (N=25) and university athletes (N= 13).The results showed that elite or national Track and Field athletes exhibited lower levels of cognitive anxiety, F (3, 113) = 15.001, p < .01. The result also showed that the exits of negative correlation between cognitive anxiety and sport performance among Track and Field players, (r = -0.67; p<0.05). Sport psychologists, sport counselors and coaches should use the present findings to recommend coping strategies to university and district level athletes that are appropriate for dealing with their athletes’ cognitive anxiety.