International Journal of Sports Sciences and Fitness, 2011. Sample Paper

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILES OF RAJASTHANAND MADHYA PRADESH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL MALECRICKET PLAYERS*Kumar Santosh **Prabhakaran Jyoti
1. Lecturer, Department of Physical Education, Indira Priyadershini College, Bhopal, INDIA.
2. Lecturer, Department of Sports Management, LNUPE, Gwalior, INDIA.
E-mail: sankumar1975@gmail.com(Received November 25, 2010, accepted December 23, 2010)
ABSTRACTThe purpose of the study was to find out the comparative result of the Psychological Profiles ofRajasthan and Madhya Pradesh International & National Level Male Cricket Players. Thesubject’s age ranged between 18-25 years, they all were selected randomly from the Rajasthanand Madhya Pradesh U-19,U-22 Cricket teams, and the experts has made two groups of 49-49
players, one group made up of Madhya Pradesh cricket players and another group made up ofRajasthan Cricket players, those who are continuously participating at National andInternational level. The experts used questionnaires of Rainer and Martin’s Sports Competition
Anxiety Test and the Eysenck, Maudsley Personality Inventory; the questions addressed various
aspects of Sports Competition Anxiety and Personality traits of cricket players respectively. The
questionnaire has filled by the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh U-19 & U-22 Cricket teams
players respectively. For the evaluation of questionnaire Two Sample T-test was employed, andthe findings reveled that there was a significant difference found i.e. 2.8 in their Personality
parameters, it means Rajasthan Cricketers were better in their Personality as compare toMadhya Pradesh Cricketers and found Insignificant i.e. 0.11 in the SCAT, which means there
was no difference in Sports Competition Anxiety of Rajasthan Cricketers and Madhya Pradesh
Cricketers. Sports Psychology can help a lot in assessing the personality and sports anxiety
characteristics of the players or individuals performance in cricket not only demands systematictraining to develop physical and physiological variables but also demands training andconsiderations of psychological characteristics for success in this field.
Key words: Sports Competition Anxiety, Training, Personality, Psychological Profiles, Cricket.
INTRODUCTION
No one really talked about applied sport psychology until recently, but it has been known in one
form or another for almost as long as people have played professional sports. It used to be called
gamesmanship. Basically, in its most basic form, it is about psyching out your opponents whilebuilding yourself up. Sports psychologists talk about the importance of being in the zone and ofcreating an intimidating presence on the field. Once you have the momentum, as long as you can1

International Journal of Sports Sciences and Fitness, 2011. Sample Paper
stay with it you can usually win. Although there are games that are a tossup until the very lastmoment, many games are decided within the first few minutes of play. What decides thesegames?
The psychology of sports is interesting not only to professional athletes, but to anyone with aninterest in the mind, especially if they are into the psychology of peak performance. You see, itinvolves many elements. Part of it is about competitive thinking, but it starts way before theteams get to the field. In essence, sports psychology is about winning, and winning requires
dedication at every stage of the game.
If you wait until you play a match to apply the principles of sports psychology, you probably
won't do really well. Before that point, you need to have a winning attitude or else you will not
be prepared. Training is one of the most important and difficult areas to apply to it. You have tokeep your energy up each and every moment of each and every practice, or you will not be ableto win. This requires all kinds of mental tricks. Sports training methods, in fact, involve many
psychological techniques such as visualization, the chanting of positive phrases to create apositive attitude, and even meditation to enhance focus.
Although it is a new field, the opportunities for people with sports psychology degrees are
growing every day. Many of the most successful teams in professional sports employ sports
psychologists, and although they get very little of the glory, they are instrumental behind thescenes. Sports psychology is no longer a set of folksy tricks used by athletes to intimidate eachother. Instead, it is an essential component of athletic training, athletic matches, and an athletic
lifestyle. The psychology of sport and exercise is even used in gyms to help normal everyday
people with their workout routines. Once you become aware of psychology sports, you can see iteverywhere.
Cricket occupies a significant place among all other games and sports. In some respects it isunique as a sport. It is an ideal sport and is a grand energetic game, giving enjoyment andpleasure and demanding fitness and dedication. Cricket requires specific psychologicalcharacteristics to be on top gear to take all the qualities in the match. A lot of research work isdone on the physical and psychological limitations of cricket but very less work has been2

International Journal of Sports Sciences and Fitness, 2011. Sample Paper
indicated towards physiological aspect, hence to satisfy this present study has been under takenin the field of Cricket.
METHODOLOGY
The subject’s age ranged between 18-25 years, they all were selected randomly from theRajasthan and Madhya Pradesh U-19, U-22 Cricket teams, and the experts has made two groupsof 49-49 players, one group made up of Madhya Pradesh cricket players and another group madeup of Rajasthan Cricket players, those who are continuously participating at National andInternational level. The experts used questionnaires of Rainer and Martin’s Sports Competition
Anxiety Test and the Maudsley Personality Inventory; the questions addressed various aspects ofSports Competition Anxiety and Personality traits of cricket players respectively. The
questionnaire has filled by the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh U-19 & U-22 Cricket teams
players respectively.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
For the evaluation of questionnaire Two Sample T-test was employed, and the findings reveledthat there was a significant difference found i.e. 2.8 in their Personality parameters (Neuroticismand Extroversion), it means Rajasthan Cricketers were better in their Personality as compare toMadhya Pradesh Cricketers and found Insignificant i.e. 0.11 in the SCAT, which means there
was no difference in Sports Competition Anxiety of Rajasthan Cricketers and Madhya PradeshCricketers.
Table 1
Variables

MeansSD

Personality Rajasthan

32.39

5.90

Personality MP

27.45

7.1

SCAT Rajasthan

6.51

1.54

SCAT MP

6.52

1.53

‘t’

2.8*

0.11

*Significant at .05 level3

International Journal of Sports Sciences and Fitness, 2011. Sample Paper
The mean of Personality parameters of Rajasthan Cricketers was found to be 32.39, which isquiet higher than the Personality traits of MP players i.e. 27.45, which reveals that the Rajasthan
players were having good personality but the MP players has also having average personality(Neuroticism and Extroversion), we couldn’t say they have poor personality. And when wecompared by applying ‘t’ test it has shown that there was a significant difference found amongthem.
The mean of SCAT of Rajasthan Cricketers was to be found 6.51, and the mean of MP players
was found 6.52, which is shown almost same and there was very slight difference found among
them, which reveals that the Rajasthan and MP players has average level of sports anxiety. And
when we compared by applying ‘t’ test it has shown that there was an insignificant difference
found among them at .05 level of significance and the tabulated value is 2.08.
CONCLUSIONS
Cricket occupies a significant place among all other games and sports. In some respects it isunique as a sport. It is an ideal sport and is a grand energetic game, giving enjoyment andpleasure and demanding fitness and dedication. Cricket requires specific psychologicalcharacteristics to be on top gear to take all the qualities in the match. A lot of research work isdone on the physical and physiological limitations of cricket but very less work has been
indicated towards psychological aspect, hence to satisfy this present study has been under takenin the field of Cricket. Sports Psychology can help a lot in assessing the personality and sports
anxiety characteristics of the players or individual’s performance in cricket not only demands
systematic training to develop physical and physiological variables but also demands training
and considerations of psychological characteristics for success in this field.
RECOMMENDATIONS*It is highly recommended to Cricket coaches of Central zone to concentrate more on the teams
psychological aspect of training of the cricketers of these areas, as the results of this study has
revealed that players those who had participated at National level of these teams are average invarious aspects of Sports Competition Anxiety in comparison to players participating at anInternational level.
4International Journal of Sports Sciences and Fitness, 2011. Sample Paper*The results of this study would help the coaches and administrators in planning and training ofcricketers for the upliftment of standard of cricket in Central zone.
*The data of this study is useful in preparing the self regulation program, which may be designed
to suit the particular need of the players of the country.
*The same study can be repeated with some more psychological variables.

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International Journal of Sports Sciences and Fitness, 2011. Sample Paper
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AKNOWLEDGEMENTIt is real pleasure that, I record my indebtedness to my friend Prof. Deepak Mehtaa for hiscounsel and guidance during the preparation of this research paper. I am also grateful to Prof.
Sudhira Chandel and Dr. K. K. Khare for all the suggestions offered an encouragement given tome. My thanks are due to all the students who acted as a subject for the study. With theirvoluntary and wholehearted support could not have been completed.
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