Relationship Between Competitive Anxiety and Performance in Badminton Players

Physical Education

Abstract

Therefore, the aim of the present research was to examine the correlation between competitive anxiety and the performance in badminton. The psychological factors related to sports performance include competitive anxiety, which has been shown to be one of the greatest influence factors in fast paced, accuracy-based sports such as badminton. The study was carried upon 20 badminton players of male sex aged (18-23) years of Seth Girdhari Lal Bihani S.D. PG college, Sri ganganagar, Rajasthan. This time, descriptive correlational research design was used. Before and after competition for the level of competitive anxiety of the players the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT), developed by Rainer Martens, was used. The following is the outcome score of the competitions played by intercollegiate events for establishing the performance score. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was used to determine the relationship between competitive anxiety and performance. Results indicated that competitive anxiety was negatively associated with performance. In the case of pre-competition anxiety, r = -0.68 (p < 0.05) was more significant than for post-competition anxiety (r = -0.52; p < 0.05). Results showed that the badminton performances of anxiety showed that the higher it goes the worse. In this light, it is recommended that psychological preparation and coping skill of anxiety via relaxation training, mental imagery and building self-confidence should be included in sports training programmes to enhance the sports performances.

The authors contend that the use of the Sport Competitive Anxiety Test (SCAT) is justified as an indicator of badminton players' performance. There was also an investigation conducted to determine the relationship between badminton players' competitive anxiety and their own performance.