An Examination of Concentration and Mental Toughness in Professional Basketball Players

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the concentration and mental toughness of professional basketball players. A total of 290 professional basketball players aged 16-26 years who played in the Turkish Basketball First and Second Leagues participated in the study. The -Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ-14)‖ developed by Sheard et al. (2009) was used to determine mental toughness levels of the basketball players participating in the study, and the -Letter Cancellation Task‖ scale developed by Kumar and Telles (2009) was used to determine their concentration levels. Data were analyzed by using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, an independent samples t-test, and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA).Results show that the concentration ability of the basketball players did not significantly differ in terms of gender, age and sports age. There were statistically significant differences in overall mental toughness, confidence and control. The players' mental toughness and confidence scores differed significantly based on sports age. It is interesting to find that overall mental toughness was higher in the basketball players with a sports age of 1-5 years. According to their positions in the play, the players' concentration ability was found to be significantly different between guards and pivots in favor of the guards. The concentration ability of the players playing at the guard position was higher than that of the players playing at other positions. Overall mental toughness and its sub-dimensions had no significant differences according to the positions. However, it is striking that overall mental toughness scores and its sub-dimension scores were high in guards and pivots.

Effects of Progressive Muscle Relaxation on Concentration and Performance Scores of 10m Shooters

“…This is in line with research that reveals the beneficial role of positive emotions. In any situation, to place the most important things requires concentration as mental effort (Dereceli, 2018). As a negative emotion, anxiety most athletes perceive as something that weakens performance and thus affects perceptions resulting in decreased sports performance (Weinberg & Gould, 2011).…”

“…As an effortful awareness during a relaxed state, control is the ability to maintain performance without being overwhelmed by other external factors when trying to manage various situations (Dereceli, 2018). This ability might maintain self-confidence despite failures, not give up in front of opponents, and show stability, dedicating oneself to pursuing goals (Crust & Clough, 2011).…”

Efektivitas bentuk latihan Skipping dan Squat Jump terhadap kemampuan Jump Shoot

“…Dengan cara mencetak poin sebanyak-banyaknya ke keranjang lawan. Terdapat berbagai teknik dasar yang harus dikuasai oleh pemain bolabasket, teknik dasar tersebut diantaranya yaitu, dribbling, passing, shooting, pivot, and rebound (Dereceli 2018) (Okubo and Hubbard 2015) (Wati, Sugihartono, and Sugiyanto 2018). Selain menguasai dengan baik teknik dasar dalam cabang olahraga bolabasket, pemain bolabasket juga harus memiliki kondisi fisik yang baik pula, diantaranya yaitu: kekuatan, kecepatan, keseimbangan, kelincahan, kelentukan, reaksi, daya tahan, koordinasi, ketepatan, dan power (Saeftian Herdiawan, Asmawi, and Hanif 2020)(Setia and Winarno 2021) (Shofia et al 2021).…”

The psychological skills of basketball athletes: Are there any differences based on the playing position?

“…Unfortunately, the position of forward has earned the lowest score in these aspects of mental skills. Dereceli (2018) explains that thre are differences on the psychological skills among the basketball players from the aspects of concentration and of mental preparation.…”