Abstract:

The aim of this study is to determine the levels of self-confidence and mental training practices according to some demographic information of athletes and to study the relationship between them. In the study, a relative scanning model that has a visual quality has been used. The universe of research is formed by athletes studying at the Faculty of Eastern Sports Sciences of Samsun Onto May University in the 2019-2020 educational-learning period. The sample of the study is made up of 295 athletes selected by the random sample method studying at the Faculty of Eastern Sports Sciences. The research data collection tools, developed by Behnke and his friends (2017) and adapted by the Creator and the God (2018) have used the mental training in the sport, the self-confidence scale developed by Akın (2007) and the "Personal Information Form" developed by the researcher. In the assessment of the data obtained in the study, according to the normality assumption controls, the Mann Whitney-U test or the Student t-test in bilateral comparisons, and the Kruskal Wallis H test in three or more group comparisons, or the One-Right Varians Analysis and the Tukey Multi-Comparation test were applied. The relationship between athletes' mental training practices and self-confidence states is determined by the Pearson correlation ratio. It has been found that athletes do not differ significantly in the scale of mental training and self-confidence in the sport, according to the variables of gender, age, state of being a national athlete and state of being a club athlete. In the inventory of mental training in sports, according to the type of sport variable, interpersonal skills and mental regeneration in the subdimensions; according to the sport age variable, interpersonal skills in the subdimensions and total points; according to the section variable, mental performance skills in the subdimensions; according to the income level variable, mental performance skills, self-speaking and mental regeneration in the subdimensions and the total points significantly differentiated. In the scale of self-confidence, according to the sport age variable, in all subdimensions and total points, and according to the income level variable, internal self-confidence has been found to differ significantly in the subdimensional and total points. It has been found that there is a significantly positive relationship between the practices of mental training and the levels of self-confidence of athletes. Therefore, it is expected that their levels of self-confidence may increase if athletes take part in their mental training practices for the sport area they show performance.

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