Study of the Relationship Between Anxiety and Achievement Motivation of Inter-University Level Table Tennis Players

Introduction The ability to cope with pressure and anxiety is an integral part of sports, particularly among elite athletes (Hardy, Jones, & Gould, 1996; Orlick & Partington, 1988). Researchers have reported that over 50 of consultations among athletes at an Olympic festival were related to stress or anxiety related problems (Murphy, 1988). The main problem is that researchers have not adequately operationally defined the construct of anxiety. Instead, terms such as stress, anxiety, arousal and activation have been used interchangeably. For the purposes of this paper the following operational definitions will be used for the terms anxiety . Stress is a state that results form the demands that are placed on the individual which require that person to engage in some coping behavior (Jones, 1990). Arousal can be considered to be a signal to the individual that he or she has entered a stressful state and is characterized by physiological signs (Hardy et al., 1996). Anxiety results when the individual doubts his or her ability to cope with the situation that

causes him or her stress (Hardy et al., 1996).

Anxiety is one of the greatest problems of modern trend in scientific knowledge. Anxiety refers to that emotional state of mind where fear of danger or loss or suffering is a prominent feature. It generally arises as a result of fear of something unknown, which creates tension and disturbance. Anxiety is a temporary condition caused by one immediate perception of the environment. Achievement motivation is the tendency to endeavor for success and to choose goal oriented success or failure activities. Achievement motivation is an effective arousal state directing behavior in an achievement oriented activity cognitively appraised as potentially satisfying. Motivation inspires an individual to do something. It is that psychophysical condition of the organism which causes an individual to work and strive to fulfill his needs. In the absence of proper motivation, not only learning process but also life itself becomes an uninteresting uphill task. It is generally seen that achievement motivated people evidenced a significantly higher rate of advancement in their company compared to others. Programs and courses designed, involves seven “training inputs.” The first step refers to the process through which achievement motivation thinking is taught to the person. The second step helps participants understand their own individuality and goals. The third assist participants in practicing achievement-related actions in cases, role-plays, and real life. A fourth refers to practicing of achievement-related actions in business and other games. A fifth input encourages participants to relate the achievement behavior model to their own behavior, self-image, and goals. The sixth program facilitates participants to develop a personal plan of action. Finally, the course provides participants with feedback on their progress towards achieving objectives and targets. Harter in 1978 (according to Cox, 2005) suggested a theory of motivation for achievement, the basis of which was the experience of personal competence of the sports person. According to Harter, all individuals are naturally motivated to achieve accomplishment in all areas of human activity and so too in sport. There is a close relationship between Achievement and anxiety. Achievement motivation is an effective arousal state which directs the human behavior for successful participation in sports competition. There should be an optimum level of achievement and motivation for participation in competition at different levels namely, state, national and international levels. One should have a desired level of anxiety and achievement to meet the task to be accomplished in competitive sports. The researchers felt that it is worthwhile to find out the relationship between anxiety and achievement motivation of Inter-university level Table Tennis Players.

To find out the relationship between anxiety and achievement motivation of Inter- university level Table Tennis Players.

What is the relationship between anxiety and achievement motivation of Inter-university level Table Tennis Players ?

There exists no significant relationship between Anxiety and Achievement motivation among Inter-university level Table Tennis Players. Method: Sample of the study Thirty Table Tennis Players (15 males and 15 females ) from inter-university level competition were selected as subjects. Variables The variables for the study were Anxiety and Achievement motivation . Instrument (i) The sport achievement motivation test standardized by Dr. M.L. Kamlesh (ii0 The sport competition anxiety test by Rainer Marten Procedure The sports competition anxiety test was administered one hour before the competition and The sport achievement motivation test was administered one day prior to the competition. Statistics To determine the relationship between Anxiety and Achievement motivation among Inter- university level Table Tennis Players, Pearson’s product moment correlation was used and level significance was set at 0.05. Results The data were analyzed by Product moment correlation method. The analysis of data for the relationship between Anxiety and Achievement motivation among Inter-university level Table Tennis Players, is presented in Table-I Table-I

Female Table Tennis Players of Inter-university Level The Table-1 revealed that the correlation co-efficient Anxiety and Achievement motivation of male Table Tennis Players and female Table Tennis Players of inter- university level were 0.131 and 0.371 respectively. Which is not significant at 0.05 level

Discussion/ Conclusions On the basis of the results of the findings stated that there were insignificant relationship between Anxiety and Achievement motivation of male Table Tennis Players and female Table Tennis Players of inter-university level . This insignificant difference may be attributed to the fact that the inter-university level Table Tennis Players were highly trained and belong to elite group of sportsman. They are exposed to higher level of participation and they were having balanced anxiety level with high achievement motivation. They are highly focused for accomplishment of their goals so they have shown insignificant relationship with anxiety. It was concluded that there was no significant relationship between Anxiety and Achievement motivation of male Table Tennis Players and female Table Tennis Players of inter-university level .

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