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ezaposleni.singidunum.ac.rs/rest/sciNaucniRezultati/oai:1:5046 2017-04-28T15:57:32Z 1

The Application of Psychological Skills by Orienteers 2013 796/799(048) 371.3::796(048) http://ezaposleni.singidunum.ac.rs/rest/sciNaucniRezultati/oai/record/1/5046 LJ. Bačanac J. Kozoderović I. Juhas B. Milojković Introduction Success in orienteering, is equally, or even more dependable on cognitive skills which are in the base of orienteering techniques, than on physical skills. To reduce mistakes in the competition, it is necessary that orienteers master psychological skills which will help them optimize high level of cognitive anxiety, which was identifed as the most reliable predictor of poor orienteer`s competitive performance (Juhas et al, 2012). According to the fi ndings that orienteers primarily attributed errors to lack of attention and concentration (Kozoderović, 2013), we wanted to determine to what extent the orienteers most use psychological techniques for psychological preparation. Th e assumption is that most of them do not use psychological skills, and that is particularly valid for women, masters category and less experienced competitors. Method In the study of typical errors in orienteering, the participants (N = 130) of the competition “Kopaonik Open 2013” had to answer the question: Do you use a technique of psychological preparation in order to eliminate your typical mistake. Responses were quantitative and qualitative analysed in order to determine their possible association with sex, age, competitive categories and experience. Results and Discussion A third of respondents (33.8%) responded positively to the question, and stated one or more techniques they applied. Although higher percentage of male athletes compared to females (39.2%: 25.5%) used the technique of psychological preparation, these fi nding did not reach the level of statistical signifi cance (χ2 = 2.617; sig = .076). Age and competitive categories are not factors that signifi cantly aff ect the habits of using psychological techniques. However, the results of χ2-test (χ2 = 5.569; sig = .015) unambiguously confi rm that the more experienced orienteers compared with less experienced signifi cantly more likely use a variety of psychological skills to improve their competitive performance. Orienteers most used techniques: concentration, selftalk, relaxation, cognitive assessment and visualization. Conclusion Orienteers dedicate little attention to the application of various psychological skills. Higher percentage of male athletes used the technique of psychological preparation, but these fi nding did not reach the level of statistical signifi cance. Psychological techniques applied signifi cantly more athletes with longer competitive experience. Further research on larger samples should confi rm or refute the fi ndings of this study. Key words: orienteering, psychological skills, competitive experience, gender conferenceObject 123 124 Book of abstract