OPTIMAL AND PREDICTED ANXIETY IN 9-12-YEAR-OLD TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES

In an effort to determine the applicability of individual zone of opti mal functioning (IZOF) theory in young athletes, state anxiety was ass essed in 40 track and field athletes (20 male and 20 female) from 9 to 12 years of age. Optimal anxiety was determined by having participant s complete the state-trait anxiety scale for children (STAIC) with ins tructions to recall how anxious they felt prior to their best performa nce of the season. Twenty-four hours prior to three 'more important' a nd three 'less important' track meets, participants completed the STAI C under instructions to predict how anxious they would feel 1 h prior to the upcoming track meet. Actual precompetition anxiety was assessed 1 h prior to each meet. Self-ratings of performance were collected fo llowing each meet in which the athletes competed. Athletes were groupe d by age (younger, 9-10 years old); (older, 11-12 years old) and by ge nder for analysis. Analysis by independent t-tests indicated that pred icted and actual precompetition anxiety values did not differ for eith er age or gender for the more important meets. However, the 11-12-year -old girls had higher (P<0.05) predicted and actual anxiety values in the 'less important' meets than all other groups. Significant correlat ions (P<0.05) between predicted and actual precompetition anxiety occu rred in all groups for both the less important and more important meet s (r=0.66-0.97), with the exception of the 9-10-year-old girls for les s important meets (r=0.38, P>0.05). Of all the participants, 26% repor ted performing best when anxiety values were in the high range. Self-r atings of performance were not lower (P>0.05) in cases in which the at hlete experienced high levels of precompetition anxiety. In summary, t he present findings indicate that several aspects of IZOF theory apply to preadolescent athletes.