Effect of 10 Weeks Psychological Skill Training on Anxiety, Motivation, Self-Confidence, Attention and Shot Performance of Youth Soccer Players

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of 10 weeks psychological skills training program which included goal setting, imagery, self-talk, pre-performance routine, concentration and self monitoring on the anxiety, motivation, self-esteem, attention and shotting performance of youth football players. The sample of this study consisted of soccer players from U16 and U17 team players of one soccer club which competed at Turkish Super league during 2016-2017 season. 30 soccer players were seleceted by using convenient sampling and were assigned to experiemental and control group equally. The Sport Anxiety Scale-2, The Sport Motivation Scale (Adolescent version), Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (Self-esteem subscale), D2 Attention Test and shotting performance were used as a data collection instruments. Data were collected from both experiemental and control group before and after 10 week psycholo？gical skill training. Data were analysed by using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results of the study indicated that the psychological skill training program had a significant influence on self-esteem and attention but there was no significant differences in somatic anxiety, worry, motivation and shooting performance bewteen experiemental and control group. It can be concluded that the psychological skill training program that consist of goal setting, imagery, self-talk, pre-performance routine, concentration and self monitoring techniques influence youth soccer players’ self-esteem and attention levels positively