A comparative study of mental toughness in elite taekwondo players

Abstract

The beneficial effects of mental toughness in terms of sports performance have been found in sports psychology literature. But the results are somewhat inconsistent not only in terms of effect of mental toughness on sports performance but its theoretical framework. In view of their contradictory findings and variability of definition and framework of mental toughness, the objective to the present study is to compare mental toughness between elite and sub-elite Taekwondo players. To conduct the study, 50 elite male Taekwondo players (between ages 15-20 years) were selected as sample. Similarly 50 sub–elite male Taekwondo players (between ages 15-20 years) were also selected as sample for the present study. The selection of elite male Taekwondo players were done from only those who took part in District, State or National level tournaments as well as who came in First Three position in various weight categories. The criterion for selection of sub – elite male Taekwondo players was set to participation in district level events in various weight categories. Purposive sampling method was used for selection of subjects. To assess mental toughness, 6 dimensional mental toughness inventory prepared by Tiwari (2007) was used. Results showed that mental toughness of elite male Taekwondo players was significantly superior as compared to sub – elite male Taekwondo players. On the basis of results, it may be concluded that at the highest level where physical, tactical and technical ability of Taekwondo players are almost same, psychological quality such as mental toughness differentiates between winners and looser.