Psychological Readiness of Handball Players for the Competition

Abstract

The athletes’ readiness for competitions is characterized by a certain set of features (functional, mental, physical, technical and tactical, etc.) that manifest in their unity. Aim: determine the readiness of handball players for competing with rivals of a different class. Materials and methods: the research was conducted on the basis of the Kherson High School of Physical Culture. A female handball team of the Super League “Dnipryanka” was involved in the research and included 15 handball players aged 19 to 32. Sports Masters of Ukraine were a contingent of the team. The research lasted for 3 years (2015-2017), took place in three stages, and was conducted in the form of observation, psychological testing and questionnaires. Results: the research on the handball team “Dnipryanka’s” psychological readiness for competitions was conducted during games with the Super League teams of Ukraine, different in terms of athletic skill and experience. Consequently, 35.7% of handball players had an average level of mental readiness, 50% were above the average, and 14.3% had a high level in the game of HC “Dnipryanka” against HC “Econom-University” (the team below the class). In the game against HC “Real” (the team is equal in class), 20% of the players had an average level of psychological readiness for the competition and 80% were above the average. In the game against HC “Galichanka” (team above the class), 61.5% of handball players with an average level of mental readiness for the competition and 38.5% with above the average were found. Conclusions: the achieved level of mental readiness can be considered sustainable and stable. This gives grounds for asserting that Kherson handball players are confident in their pre-start period, and during the competition they are persistently and fully capable of fighting to achieve the goal.