Comparison of Mental Toughness and Rumination States of Football Players Playing in Different Positions

Abstract

Athletes strive to maximize their athletic performance, therefore mental training is of great importance for the development of performance. It is important to determine the mental endurance and rumination states of athletes in terms of performance and to produce solution suggestions. This research was conducted to compare the mental endurance and rumination states of football players playing in different positions. The research group consisted of 1062 licensed volunteer athletes in the Aegean region who are active in the football branch. In the research, the “Personal Information Form”, the “Mental Endurance Scale in Sports” to determine the mental endurance levels of athletes and the “Sports Competition Rumination Scale” to determine the rumination states of athletes were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package program. The significance level was accepted as p<0.05. According to the findings obtained from the research; it was observed that there was a significant difference between the mental endurance and rumination states of the research group with the variables of championship status, age, education status, income status, sports year, weekly training number and the position they played. It was determined that the average scores of amateur athletes in the research group were higher than professional athletes, non-national athletes were higher than national athletes, and athletes who did not win championships were higher than athletes who won championships. It was observed that as the educational status of the athletes increased, their average scores of mental endurance increased, their average scores of rumination decreased, and as their income status increased, their average scores of mental endurance and rumination decreased. It was determined that as the years of sports in the research group increased, their average scores of mental endurance and rumination decreased, and that athletes who played in the goalkeeper position had lower average scores of mental endurance and rumination than athletes who played in the defense, midfield, and forward positions. It was observed that as the league level in which the athletes played increased, their average scores of mental endurance increased and their average scores of rumination decreased. As a result; it was observed that the mental endurance of the athletes was at a moderate level, their rumination was at a high level, and that the sports degree, education, league and position they played in affected the mental endurance and rumination of the athletes. In line with this information, we believe that adding programs to improve mental endurance and rumination in addition to athletes' training will positively affect athletes' athletic performance.