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Impact of Motivation and Self-Regulation on the Success of Football Players

At an open laboratory seminar, the researcher told what affects the success of the game of football

Impact of Motivation and Self-Regulation on the Success of Football Players

Modern trends in the development of football dictate a constant increase in requirements for the level of training of players. The full realization of the physical, intellectual and other abilities required in sports depends largely on the personality of the athlete-football player and the player's ability to control his abilities. In this regard, the study of the specific personal qualities of professional football players who contribute to sports results is a popular topic that meets practical needs.

The present study on personality characteristics as predictors of success in professional football was carried out in order to identify the contribution of the characteristics of motivation and personal potential to the success of professional football players, namely playing football.

In accordance with the set goal and objectives of the study, as well as based on the analysis of scientific and methodological literature, a battery of methods for testing motivation and personal potential was selected: A universal scale of types of motivational regulation (Sheldon, Suchkov et al., 2015); Scale "flow in professional activity" (Leontiev D.A., 2015), Methodology for diagnosing experiences in activity (Leontyev D.A., 2015), Scale of general self-efficacy (Schwarzer, Erusalem, 1996), Self-control test (Gordeeva, Osin et al. et al., 2016), An abbreviated version of the vitality test (Rasskazova, Leontiev D.A., 2016), M. Lyusher's eight-color test (Lyusher, 2007) and, on its basis, the numerical calculation of performance using the formula for the coefficient of vegetative tone (Shiposh, 1980).

The basis for the selection of methods is their adaptation and successful application in other scientific research.
The present study involved 67 football players, aged 18 to 22 years old, belonging to three different teams, and three coaches who are the head coaches of the teams we studied.

As a result of the study, the following was revealed:

  • The level of preparedness of players for the season is predicted by a number of psychological characteristics, namely, external forms of motivation and involvement, a component of resilience. These highlighted personality traits are negatively correlated with the athletic fitness of the players during the season;  
  • Psychophysiological performance and the players' experience of pleasure in their free time from football make a positive contribution to how the players of the teams studied by us actually perform in the 2020/2021 season. These results demonstrate the importance of what happens in the lives of professional athletes when they are “off the pitch”;  
  • Internal motivation, self-control and players 'experience of meaning and effort in the process of training and competitive activity make a positive contribution to the players' self-esteem of their psychological and physical state.

The study of psychological characteristics (including motivation and self-regulation) is considered to improve the prediction of the activities of football players and the team as a whole, for a more focused work of a psychologist and for solving one of the main problems in modern football - bringing the player into optimal shape and maintaining this state throughout the season. This study is another step towards meeting these challenges.

The scientific report was presented by Marina Evgenievna Bushmanova, postgraduate student of the Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov.