Psychosocial Situations Encountered By Athletes: Opinions of Orienteering Coaches

Authors : Raşit Karaca

Pages : 25-45

Doi:10.33459/cbubesbd.1516545

View : 103 | Download : 73

Publication Date : 2025-01-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :It is not surprising that athletes face many psychological strains in the competitive sports environment. The orienteering athlete, on the other hand, demonstrates making conscious decisions while interpreting the complexity of the map and recognizing the features of his/her environment, and in doing so, faces a psychological burden. In this context, the aim of this study is to reveal the opinions of orienteering coaches about the psychological difficulties experienced by their athletes in the competitive sports environment and what methods of solution to this situation. In the research, phenomenological research design, one of the qualitative research methods, and homogeneous sampling, one of the purposeful sampling types, were used. The research group consists of 3rd level orienteering coaches (n: 6, 4 women, 2 men). A semi-structured interview form was used to obtain data in the study. Content analysis method was used when analyzing data. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that a structure with two themes was formed: \\\"Psychological Strains Encountered by Athletes\\\" and \\\"Solution Suggestions for Psychological Difficulties Encountered by Athletes\\\". The codes formed under the themes and categories create concepts such as athletes before and during the competition, stress, anxiety, focus, excitement, fear, low motivation, high expectation, lack of self-confidence and focus. The opinions of the coaches regarding the solution suggestions are; Concepts such as entering a psychological regime, breathing stretches, positive inner speech of the athlete, visual and auditory checking during the competition, visualization work, increasing motivation and visually analyzing the terrain are seen. As a result, the coaches stated that the athletes encountered many psychological negativities during the competition and that they tried to improve the athlete by introducing a psychological regime to solve these problems.
Keywords : Oryantiring, Psikolojik zorlanma, Rekabetçi spor ortamı, Spor, Antrenör