Effect of Progressive Relaxation Technique on Management of State Anxiety of Judo Players

A rapidly growing area of interest in sports psychology concern the use of anxiety management procedure such as bio-feedback and relaxation training technique to enhance athletic performance by reducing anxiety. In the stressful setting provided by competitive athletics, it is not unusual to observe an athlete who either `choaked' or whose fears at least interfere with effective performance. Athletes who choaked or get psyched out during athletic competition are those who cannot cope with anxiety that is always present in sport. Anxiety is one of the most common determinants of good performance. At worst the effects of anxiety gets the athlete so tied up in knots that he is frozen in fear. At best, anxiety subtly impairs performance by distracting the attention. A lest of reasons why athletes are fearful is not helpful in itself, but it does constitute a starting point. From an awareness of or an educated guess as to why an athlete is fearful, one fan device strategies and situations and engage ip discussions that may reduce anxiety to appropriate and helpful levels. Numerous mentalistic coping strategies like visual, imagery, meditation. Bio- fee back, self talk etc are currently described in the literature. Among these one of the most effective and useful technique used is muscular relaxation technique Research studies (Thorenz, 1978; peggy, 1981) Lane investigated the effect of relaxation training on favourable physiological changes. Progressive Relaxation technique have also shown to improve physical fitness (Rose, 1995; Loutfy, 1981) and Motor Performance (Karen, 1981). Studies by Garden and Davin, 1981 have supported the hypothesis that relaxation techniques reduces anxiety and stress levels.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of progressive relaxation technique on the management of state anxiety of Judo players. Twenty judo players of Lakshmihai National College of Physical Education, Gwalior were selected as subjects. The subjects were residents in the .college hostel and were undergoing the same programme of instruction in theory and sports skills except for individual food preferences and voluntary recreational habits. The state anxiety of the subjects were obtained by administering the Sports Competition Anxiety Test. (SCAT), prepared and standardised by Rainer and Matins. The modified form of Jacobson's Progressive Muscular Relaxation Technique (Teray Orlick_, 1980) was adopted as the experimental treatment for the present study. The subjects were taught and given practical session for duration of 15 to 20 minutes, thrice a week for a period of six weeks. The teaching of progressive relaxation was done under four phases. In the first phase, the subjects were asked to voluntarily contract a particular muscle group and hold the tension for 10 seconds, then relax. In the second phase, the subjects were asked to relax the various muscle groups without any contraction of any muscle group. In the third phase, the researcher pronounced the word 'relax' and the subjects were asked to pronounce the same along with him and recall the feeling of relaxation through the body. In the fourth phase, the subjects were introduced potentially anxiety provoking situation and were asked to perform the earlier mentioned 3rd phase under each situations. To find out the effect of relaxation technique on the management of anxiety 't' rest was applied to

The mean scores on sports competition anxiety of intercollegiate Judo players before and after the treatment of six weeks training programme of progressive relaxation was exposed to 't' test and the findings are presented in Table 1.

This may be attributed to the fact that progressive relaxation method might be one of the most effective method of management of sports competition anxiety. Terry Orlick and B.J. Crafty has also advised coaches, trainers and athletes to use this method for the purpose of management of anxiety in competitive situations.

Within the limitations of the present study, it is concluded that modified Jacobson Progressive Relaxation Method is a very effective method for the management of sports competition anxiety of Judo players of Inter-collegiate level.

1. Crafty, Brayant J. Psychology in Contemporary Sport. Englewood Cliffs N.J.: Prentice Hall Inc., 1973. Abstracts International 41 (Feb.1981): 3474. 3. Goarden and Richard Davis. "Effect of Hypnosis Relaxation Training or Music on State Anxiety and Stress in Female Athletes." Dissertation Abstracts International 42 (Aug. 1981):598-A. 4. Karen, Klisch. "An Investigation of a Relaxation, Imagery Techniques on the Performance of Motor Skill." Dissertation Abstracts International 41 (Feb. 1981): 3478-A. 5. Orlick, Terry. In Pursuit of Excellence. Champaign, Illinious: Human Kinetics Publishers, 1980. 6. Peggy Moses. "The Effect of Acute and Intensive Relaxation Techniques on Hyperactive Mass" Competed Research 23 (1981):209. 7. Roses, Silverstri Lynette. "The Effect of Aerobic Dance and Progressive Relaxation on Reducing Anxiety and Improving Physical Fitness in High School Girls." Dissertation Abstracts International 46 (Nov. 1985):1227- A. 8. Thomas, Cummings, Vineet. "The Effect of Endurance Training and Progressive Relaxation, Meditation on the Physiological Response to Stress." Dissertation Abstracts International 45 (Aug. 1984):451-A. 9. Thorenz, Hopper Robert. "An Investigation of the Psychological Changes Due to Relaxation Training and Practice." Dissertation Abstracts International 38 (April 1978):5990-A.