Mental toughness and hardiness at different levels of football. Sports Psychology and Coaching.

Now with the growth of commercialisation, football is a multi-billion pound business that competes for scarce resources and uses, amongst other things, professional management techniques. Because of the increase and push towards efficiency, it has become of greater interest to players, coaches, administrators, spectators and owners to identify psychological attributes and mental skills associated with superior sport performance as a primary stage of facilitating their development. However, there has been little research into the emotional factors affecting footballers at different levels, in particular, the mental toughness and hardiness of footballers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between mental toughness and hardiness of footballers and the level of football at which they perform. Mental toughness was assessed using the Psychological performance inventory. Hardiness was assessed using the Personal views survey III-R. Participants in the present study were 61 footballers from various clubs and 2 levels of performance: Playing recreational or elite football.Results are discussed relative to previous findings relevant to mental toughness and hardiness and future implications to aid the psychological development of footballers playing at different levels. Future research might concentrate further on psychological skills training, coping strategies and psychological preparation strategies in a wider variation of sports specific to a wider range of athletes, from grass roots to international level.

Mark Atkinson is a lecturer in the field of Sports Science. He is currently specialising in the psychological development of athletes in a broad range of sports around the world.