Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Emotions affect the way elite athletes respond to competition and distractions during competitive play. Elite athletes who can identify and regulate emotion during competition, can increase the energy of their high quality play. Understanding how their players respond emotionally during play can assist coaches in helping athletes regulate those emotions. This study will examine the extent to which age impacts the psychobiosocial states of elite badminton players. Thirty elite badminton players in three age group (lower juniors, upper juniors, and adults) will reflect on and rate their feeling on seven components of psychobiosocial states (Bortoli, et al, 2009) during their self-identified best and worst performances during competitive tournaments. Descriptive statistics will examine the strength of emotions on each item and linear regression will test differences between the three groups. The goal of the study is assist coaches in understanding the individual zone of optimal function (IZOF) for each age group in order to help athletes cope with changing psychobiosocial states during matches.