Analysis of Psychological Resilience of TFF U16 Development League Soccer Players

Introduction

Football is considered to be a branch of sports played by combining intermittent movements in motion analysis [1, 2]. Elite performance in sports requires improved athletic performance, which includes physical and anthropometric characteristics. Managers, coaches and coaches who are in decision-making bodies in sports have to develop and implement certain protocols to improve the performance of athletes and prevent their injuries. Today, football is a sport branch that drags people in many countries of the world. The intense interest in football, which has entered the history of world sports since the 1800s, is due to the fact that football is easy to understand and playable as a game. Regardless of its spread and speed, football is now the most widespread and most invested sports branch in the world. Such intense attention inevitably has made this sport branch a potential market, even an industry with huge boutiques. This feature of football has caused a continuous development and change within itself. The rules of the game and training techniques are constantly being renewed in a way to increase and protect this interest. Now many branches of science have begun to enter football, and they are trying to contribute to this sport branch in a way that will increase the performance of the football player. Thanks to these studies, football has become a branch that requires more intense physical strength and tactical knowledge and skills. Winning, being a champion, scoring goals, attracting people’s attention has gained much more importance now. As a result, the level of struggle to achieve the goal has also increased [3].

In professional football, most of the epidemiological studies have been directed towards the physical health of players, principally towards the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries and more recently towards the prevention of these injuries. By contrast, scientific information about the mental health of professional footballers remains scarce. This is surprising because players are (cumulatively) exposed during their career to specific and non-specific stressors that might lead to symptoms of common mental disorders (CMD). These symptoms of CMD are likely to influence the performances of players but also their quality of life negatively [4].

Concepts such as sports or athlete are often associated with physical strength. It would not be wrong to say that the muscular and athletic bodies that athletes have caused this idea. But mental strength and skills, as well as physical strength and skills, are an important component of sporting success. Through the developments and scientific researches in sports psychology after the Second World War, mental strength and skills have gained an important place in the training programs of the athletes and started to be an important part of the successes [5].

Performance and sport achievement are affected by usual stressor factors like perpetration a psychological and bodily errors, endurance of pain and ailment, viewing the fraud or rivals achievement, receipting fine from arbiter and punishment from mentor. Inability to effective encountering to sport stress is harmful for performance and personal pleasant. One of the theories in study about the strategies for encounter to stress is the approach of positive psychology which the resilience is one of its concepts. Resilience is the dynamic process of positive adaptiveness with horrible experiences. Resilience is on a continuum with different degrees of resistance versus psychological pathologies. It is concordant with positive development; adaptiveness and reaching the level of equilibrium after developing disorder in precede equilibrium status [6].

Mental training “has been expressed as a precautionary exercise performed at the stage of learning a new movement or developing a previously experienced movement for a specific goal by using the mind without any physical action [7]. Mental training, motivation, concentration, attention, imagination, goal setting, self-confidence, positive thinking, emotion and thought control, etc. to achieve high performance. It is defined as a systematic and programmed process aiming at the acquisition and development of psychological skills [8]. Mental strength, resilience, and strategy are learned through facing challenges, succeeding and failing, and learning to use fear as a motivating force not a debilitating one. It’s learned through life experience, athletics, and cultivation of the mind and it’s enormous potential. It’s not genetic. Mental training gives athletes structure to build these qualities from the ground up so that they are prepared to grow as an athlete and face anything in competition.

Psychological resilience is a personality trait consisting of three dimensions: dedication, control and challenge. He defines dedication as an individual’s tendency to deal with various areas of life. A person’s dedication to his social environment, work, family environment, interpersonal relationships, beliefs and values ​occurs in all areas of his life, and this situation enables the individual to create a power source necessary for coping with stressful life situations. Challenge is the belief that change is a natural part of daily life and a stimulus for development rather than a threat to security. The reason why the events in the challenge are perceived as encouraging development is the belief that individuals can rearrange the situations they live in. That’s why they give importance to interesting and diverse life experiences [9].

When the studies conducted to measure psychological resilience are examined, the examination of the factors that increase resilience comes to the fore among the subjects that adult-based scales focus on. It is an individual’s perception of self and future, social environment adequacy, family support, and individual awareness [10].

Research in sports psychology, individual resistance studies. Although it is beginning to shed light on the nature and process of resistance, nature requires special tests within the sport. Elite team sports level resilience research demonstrates high performance despite the ever-changing stress environment. despite the ever-changing complex sporting environment, as well as their ability to maintain important information on the ability to maintain high performance can provide.

This study is important in terms of revealing the psychological resilience of U16 elite football players. It is important to find out how much it affects football players and to examine the psychological resilience of different groups. The aim of the study was to reveal the answers given by the players to the questions asked to them and the changes within the groups themselves. Although it is thought that the results of the studies will help in taking precautions in a similar situation that may occur in the future, it may reveal guiding data in the psychological support that will be given to both groups in such cases. In previous studies, it has been revealed that psychological resilience is a factor that affects many events in a person’s life, and that it now increases the quality of life of the individual and contributes positively to social and academic resilience. The results of this kind of research on the psychological resilience of football players who play elite sports may lead individuals to change their lifestyles.

Methods

In this section, the method that forms the basis of the study, the way the data were collected, the population and the sample, and the information about the statistical processes that emerged as a result of the study are given.

Results

The independent groups t-test findings on how the psychological resilience status of the football players changed are presented in Table 2. In Table 2, it was concluded that the mean scores of psychological resilience in the sub- dimension of dedication to football players were statistically significantly higher. It was concluded that the psychological resilience score averages of the players in the control and challenge sub-dimensions were low, but this difference was not statistically significant.

One-Way ANOVA test findings regarding how the psychological resilience status of football players change according to their education levels are presented in Table 3. Football players differ in a statistically significant level according to their education level in the sub-dimension of dedication. The TUKEY test was used to determine which education levels caused this difference. Accordingly, it was concluded that secondary school students were statistically significantly higher than high school students’ mean scores. When the averages of the total psychological resilience scale scores according to the education level were examined, it was concluded that the averages were higher in secondary school students, and there was no statistically significant relationship between education levels.

One-Way ANOVA test findings on how the psychological resilience of football players change according to their income levels are presented in Table 4. It was concluded that there was no statistically significant difference between the income levels of the football players and the psychological resilience sub-dimensions. When the averages of the total psychological resilience scale score are examined according to the income level, it is seen that the averages are highest in the participants with an income level of 20,001-30,000 ₺, followed by the athletes with an income level of 30,001 and above, and the lowest average is the individuals with an income level of 10,001-20,000 ₺. It was concluded that there is no statistically significant relationship between these income levels.

Discussion and Conclusion

In this study, the resilience of U-19 playing elite football was examined and the demographic differences between them were tried to be revealed. The participants were asked about the psychological resilience scale (PBL) and how long they played football at the elite level, their educational status, and their monthly income, and statistical analyzes of the data were made. 160 male football players participated in the study.

The psychological resilience and sub-dimensions of elite football players were discussed in accordance with the purpose, taking into account the personal characteristics of the group. In this study, psychological resilience of individuals who do sports at elite level was found to be statistically significant. The fact that resilience is in favor of elite athletes is also supported by many studies examined in the literature on resilience. In a similar study examining psychological resilience, it was found that people who do sports for 6-10 years are more psychologically resilient than those who do sports for 0-5 years [12]. Considering this result, it can be said that as the duration of doing sports increases, psychological resilience increases at a positive level. In another study, in a study on students in high schools that provide sports education, it is evaluated that as the year of sports increases, their endurance increases at a positive level [13]. The result of a different study, which thinks that all kinds of sports contribute to the individual, is in parallel with our result. There are many different studies in the literature that support the current study.

In his study on mental health, such as depression and sleep disorder, which are among the factors affecting psychological resilience, Kendii drew attention to the fact that these risk factors are less common in those who do sports. Sports, which has an undeniable share in the secretion of happiness hormones, has an important share in reducing stress and working the mind. As a result, it can be said that the individuals who do sports at the elite level, regardless of the branch they are in, have a high sense of winning, success and defeat. The development of emotions such as overcoming all kinds of negativities, unexpected situations, and pressure to win the match may have manifested itself during the match or during the preparation for the match. The self-confidence and the ambition of the struggle brought by the sportsmen can also come to the fore in eliminating the problems they encounter in social life.

A statistically significant difference was found between the dedication and PBL total dimensions of male football players investigated in this study, and it was concluded that there was no statistically significant difference in the control and challenge sub-dimensions. Karasar N [11] reached a similar conclusion in their study in which they examined the psychological resilience among university athletes and suggested that male athletes have higher psychological resilience than female athletes. Kumar A [14] stated that the result was in favor of men in his study in which he examined psychological resilience among football players between the ages of 19-24. In another study investigating the relationship between gender and resilience, Bonanno GA, et al. [15] stated that being a male is an advantage in psychological resilience. In this study, there are studies supporting the result in favor of men in the sub-dimension of dedication, but it is worth discussing that the result is in favor of women in the PBL total dimension. The majority of studies suggesting that the results are in favor of women or that there is no significant difference in the literature are also striking. Ilhan A [16] found the result in favor of women in his study examining the psychological resilience among individuals participating in the exercise. interpreted as possible.

In terms of income levels, no statistically significant difference was found among the participants in our study. Bonanno GA, et al. [15] also found that psychological resilience is higher in students with high income levels in their study among university athletes. Examining the studies on resilience, Judkins S, et al. [17], who examined the resilience of home care nurses, state that individuals with low income levels and living under difficult conditions are advantageous in terms of resilience. In another study conducted on 437 nurses, a positive effect of an increase in income on psychological resilience was observed [18]. There are many studies in the literature showing the positive effects of increasing income on psychological resilience. It was concluded that there was a statistically significant difference in the sub-dimension of dedication among the athlete participants according to the education level, while there was no significant difference in the other sub-dimensions. It is observed that individuals with high school and secondary education differ significantly in psychological resilience compared to individuals with lower education levels. They found in their study named personality, intelligence and approaches to learning as predictors of academic performance. ultimately supports us; Individuals who are successful in the academic field are positively affected in the personality of the individual for self-control and discipline [19].

In another study on psychological resilience and education level, which supports the results of this study, it was stated that teachers who received postgraduate education in the sub-dimension of social resources of the person were significantly better at resilience than lower education levels [20]. In another study on teachers, Bozgeyikli H, et al. [21] stated that teachers with undergraduate education are more psychologically resilient than teachers with graduate education. In a study on children and their parents, it was seen that students with parents with high education levels have high psychological resilience [22]. It was observed that the sense of control from the mental toughness sub- dimension increased as the age of the tennis players and the years of playing tennis increased. While the variables of age and years of doing sports are effective on the mental endurance of the athletes; It can be said that gender and the number of training sessions per week are not effective. It can be ensured that the athletes develop their ability to be comfortable and controlled under difficult conditions and in the face of unexpected situations. By investigating the relationship between psychological factors and the level of mental endurance, the mental performance of athletes can be increased [16]. According to the results obtained from our study, it was determined that the psychological resilience levels of the football players were affected by the education level and marital status variables, but not by the gender and place of residence [23].

As a result, it has been determined that there is no relationship between the mental endurance of the athletes in terms of their gender and monthly income levels, the educational status of the athletes, whether they do sports or not. It is understood that the branch and the duration of doing sports as licensed affect mental endurance [24]. It is seen that there are studies in the literature that do not find a significant difference, as well as the results of psychological resilience that increase with the increase in education level.