A Comparative Study of Self-Confidence of Sportsmen Belonging to Individual Sports and Team Sports

Sport is a human activity that involves specific administrative organization and a historical background of rules, which define the objective and limit pattern of human behavior. It involves competition and or challenge and a definite outcome primarily determined by physical skill. Sports are generally determined by physical activities demanding exertion and skill, involving competition, carried on

them more concisely as; (1) Activities with clear performance standards; (2) Involving competition through physical exertion; (3) Governed by norms defining role relationship; (4) Typically performed by members of organized group; (5) With the goal of achieving a reward and (6) Through the defect of other participants. Sport has been classified in various depending on their nature and purpose. The sport can be indoor or outdoor, individual or team, recreational or competitive. Sports performance is some what dependent on the relative contribution of many social factors, eg., group cohesion, personal identity, certain attitudes and values, reactions to others and the effect of the presence of crowd are some of the social factors which operate in sports situations. These social factors, which are related to achievement in sports performance, are difficult to measure and therefore hard to identify in specific situations. Self-confidence is the belief is one‘s ability to succeed, when your coach tells you the intervals to hold in a set, confidence is the belief that you can make the intervals. When you are at Nationals for the first time and step up on the block for your race, confidence is the belief in your ability to race up to your capabilities (as you have demonstrated throughout the season). Research on elite athletes across sports suggests that a high level of self-confidence, as well as the ability to maintain that high level over time, is a factor they have in common. The challenge is in figuring out how this skill and characteristic can be developed in athletes.

1) Confident athlete consistently works hard in practice. 2) Confident athlete focus on controllable 3) Confident athlete tries even harder when they don‘t reach their goals. 4) Confident athlete competes to win. 5) Confident athlete manage their emotions

The purpose of the present study is to compare self-confidence among sports men of individual sports and team sports.

The subjects for the present study were sportsmen who participated from respective institution in different games and sports competitions at the collegiate level during the year 2015-16. The subjects had represented their college in the Mysore city and Mysore University inter-collegiate competitions in both individual sport and team sports.

Sample for the present study consisted of seventy sports men (N=70), the subjects were in the age group of 18-25 years. Out of seventy subjects serving as sample for the present study 35 sportsmen (N=35) belonged to individual sports and 35 sportsmen (N=35) belonged to team sports.

In order to collect data necessary for the present study there was a need for an objective psychological tool that would measure self confidence. The self confidence inventory developed and standardized by Basavanna was used because of the following reasons.

• It has been widely and expensively used in the field of psychological testing, and could be conveniently adopted for the purpose of the study

• It is an objectively scoreable test

• The items and questions in the test could be easily understood by the responses.

In the instructions that appear before the question to be answered by the subjects under study were briefed about the purpose of the present investigation and about the importance of self-confidence.

To test the research hypothesis, ‗z‘ test for difference of means was used at 5% level.

To achieve the main purpose and the objective of the present investigation the investigator administered Basavanna‘s self-confidence inventory to seventy sportsmen (N=70) in the age group of 18-25 years who had participated in the Mysore city and Mysore University intercollegiate tournaments during the year 2015-16 the sample included thirty-five sportsmen (N=35) participating in individual sports and thirty-five sportsmen (N=35) participating in team sports. Necessary data relevant to the present study were collected through the responses of the selected subjects to the self-confidence inventory administered to them.

From the above table infer the following: 1. The mean score of self-confidence of sportsmen from individual sports was 66.97 with Sd. 14.17. sportsmen from team games was 61.828 with Sd. 11.87. 3. The mean difference in score of self-confidence of sportsmen from individual sports and team games was 5.142 and was found to be statistically not significant.

It was concluded from the results of the study that the sportsmen selected as subjects for the present study were on the high in self confidence levels and that there were no significant differences between sportsmen belonging to individual sports and team sports groups in their mean self-confidence scores.

Covassin Tracey, ―The Relationship between Self Confidence, Mood State and Anxiety among Collegiate Tennis Players‖ Journal of Sport Behaviour, Vol. 27, 2004. Ghuman Paramjit Singh and Dhillon Bhupender‘s Singh, ―Self Confidence and Will to Win‖, Scientific Journal, Vol. 23 (4), Oct 2000, pp. 15-20. Hanton Sheldon et al., ―Self confidence and Anxiety Interpretation : A Qualitative Investigation‖, University of Wales Institute, Carfiff, UK, 2003. Krans Richard, ―Recreation and Leisure in Modern Society‖. 6th Ed., Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury, Massachusetts, 2001, p.286. Singer N. Robert, et al., ‖Handbook of Sport Psychology‖, 2nd Ed, Johnwiley and Sons, Inc. New York, 2001, p.550.

Research Scholar, Physical Education Director, Govt. First Grade College, Hullahalli, Mysore Dist., Karnataka