Mental Toughness: an Investigation study on Paralympian and Non-Paralympian Throwers of India

Abstract

Mental toughness (MT) is widely acknowledged as a key personal resource that underpins high-level athletic performance and sporting success. The substantial increase of MT studies in sports throughout the last past few decades has advanced knowledge of the notion and its consequences for athletes. Studies have focused on the concept of mental toughness as it relates to certain activities and sports in elite athletes; however, there is little research on mental toughness in para-sports.

The objective of the Study- This study built on prior research by looking at what traits were most relevant for identifying mental toughness in para-sports from the perspective of elite para-athletes. The aim of this study was to investigate the mental toughness levels of elite Indian Para-throwers in terms of various subscales of mental toughness.

Methods- The sample of the present study consists of elite para-throwers; the sample group consists of a total of 10 Para Throwers (5=Paralympian Thrower, 5=Non-Paralympian Thrower), who participated at the international levels including Paralympic, World Championship. To collect demographic information a  Personal Information form developed by the investigator and a Psychological Performance Inventory (PPI) developed by Loehr was utilized to determine the Mental Toughness attitudes of the individuals.

Results- To analyse the data; the T-test was used to review the connections between variables. Finally, the significance level is accepted as p<0.05. According to the findings of the research, there are statistically significant differences (p<0.05) in terms of motivation level, whereas Self-confidence, Negative Energy Control, Attention, Visualization, Positive Energy, and Attitude Control were the same in both groups. However, Paralympian throwers athletes had significantly and meaningfully higher motivation levels (M =28.60 ± SD =1.14) than Non-Paralympian thrower athletes (M =24.00 ± SD =1.41).

Conclusions- The study outcome suggests that coaches and trainers can work on the mental toughness of para-athletes to prepare for and compete in world-level events such as the Paralympics, Para-world championships, and also at the grassroots level this Psychological domain should be a part of athlete’s training mode.