Psychological and sport-specific characteristics of football players

It is hypothesized that players of different levels of play might differ no t only in their football skills but also in their way of playing football a nd with respect to psychological factors such as concentration, reaction ti me, or competitive anxiety. The psychological characteristics of a player m ight influence his way of playing football (in particular with respect to f air play) and also his risk of injury. A group of 588 football players were studied by questionnaire; additionally, reaction time tests were performed . Psychological characteristics were assessed by three established self-eva luation questionnaires: the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, the State Com petitive Anxiety Test, and the State-Trait-Anger-Expression-Inventory. Foot ball-specific characteristics that were investigated included playing exper ience and positions played, style of play, number of training hours and gam es, as well as aspects of fair play. Reaction time was tested twice: withou t the influence of physical exercise and immediately after a 12-minute run. A significant reduction in reaction time was observed after physical exerc ise. In high-level players, the reaction time immediately after the 12-minu te run was significantly shorter than it was in low-level players. The ques tionnaire answers given regarding fair play clearly indicated that fair pla y is not paid sufficient respect. The relationship between psychological ch aracteristics and attitudes toward fair play was analyzed and discussed.