Psychological Characteristic of the Sport Perfomance in Boccia athletes that belongs to the Chilean Paralympic Committee

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate the psychological characteristics of the Boccia-Chile Paralympic athletes according to their sports classification.

Methodology: Descriptive study; 21 Paralympic athletes from Boccia with sports classification Boccia 1 (BC1), Boccia 2 (BC2), Boccia 3 (BC3) and Boccia 4 (BC4) participated. To collect the data, the questionnaire on psychological characteristics related to sports performance (CPRD) was applied. The scales that were evaluated were: team cohesion (CEQ), motivation (MO), mental ability (HM), influence of performance evaluation (IER) and stress control (CE).

Results: It was observed that within the surveyed group the athletes who had the highest levels in the evaluated scales correspond to the BC4 category, the highest scales were HM and MO with a Centile Score (PC) = 90, and the lowest variable was CEQ with a PC = 65. On the other hand, the category with the lowest score is BC1, its highest variable was HM with a PC = 95, and the lowest with a PC = 30 in CE.

Conclusion: Athletes BC2 and BC4, according to the CPRD questionnaire, obtained results on the acceptable category in all their scales, which indicates that they present psychological characteristics according to what is expected in an elite athlete. Categories BC1 and BC3 require additional mental training, with an emphasis on performance influencing dimensions.