Comparison of the mental toughness among National and International level artistic male gymnasts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare Mental Toughness among national and international level male artistic gymnastics players The study was delimited to male Artistic Gymnastics. For this study a total of subjects (N=40) were chosen, national-level gymnasts (N=20) and international-level gymnasts (N=20). The subjects were chosen using the purposive sampling method and their age ranged between 22.34 2.55 years. The subjects were the senior category gymnast with a minimum of five times national participation for the national level gymnast and one international level participation for the international gymnast recognized by the GFI, Gymnastics Federation of India and IGF, International Gymnastics Federation. Mental Toughness was measured using the Alan Heary Questionnaire (2015) which consisted of 24 questions measuring four factors namely Motivation, Concentration Confidence Control Under Pressure, and an independent sample t-test was used to compare the Mental Toughness. The results showed that there is a significant difference between national and international-level male artistic gymnastic players in terms of motivation, concentration, and overall mental toughness with international gymnasts achieving higher in all factors. Whereas there was no significant difference in terms of confidence, control under pressure.