Study on the Psychological Factor Within the Middle School Footbal Team
Authors:   Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: vasile.ormenisan@ubbcluj.ro., ORMENIȘAN Septimiu Vasile , RADU Paul Ovidiu ,   Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: radu.paul1993@yahoo.ro., MONEA Dan ,   Sports Games Department, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Babeș Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: moneadan1976@gmail.com., ȘANTA-MOLDOVAN Cristian-Ioan ,   Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: cristian.santa@yahoo.com., ORMENIȘAN Cristina Ionela ,   “Onisifor Ghibu” Theoretical High School, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Corresponding author: vasile.ormenisan@ubbcluj.ro.
Published: October 2024

The psychological factor is one of the least exploited aspects of football. In sports, developing performance capacity is the primary objective of training. Maintaining motivation and achieving performance are the foundations of the educational-instructional process and have great value as outcomes both individually and for the team. Research hypotheses. (H1). It is assumed that the members of the national football team have average/above-average emotional intelligence (test score => 100), significantly different from the rest of the students in grades VII-VIII, because teamwork and the psychological training included in the preparation develop the mental qualities and properties of the students who play football. (H2). It is assumed that there is a significant correlation between emotional intelligence and the performance of students in the experimental group. Research methods. In the present research, the initial testing was carried out among students in grades VII-VIII and the national football team (February 2024 – May 2024). This research was conducted at “Sf. Ilie” General School in Toplița. The research subjects were 68 students, 35 females and 33 males. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used, and the following methods were chosen: observation, emotional intelligence test (Roco, 2001), performance test (ball sense, heading the ball, complex test, shooting at two goals, bilateral game), and statistical analysis (t-test). Results. The level of emotional intelligence of the students is 86 and 81 in the national football team, below average, which raises a red flag. At the level of the national football team, a strong self-awareness among the students is noted. This indicator has the highest score, 500, far ahead of empathy (-180) and very far ahead of social skills (-360). After applying to the middle school team's training program, we see a significant increase in the level of emotional intelligence. The correlation statistical test and the t-test show a correlation of r=0.86 and a significance of p=0.00 between the initial and final test results. The Pearson correlation shows a strong link between emotional intelligence and the bilateral game (r=0.76), but does not show a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and the other performance indicators. To confirm if the value of r is statistically significant, i.e., if the two variables are correlated, the t-value was calculated. Conclusions. This research confirms that the psychological factor cannot be absent from the preparation of school representative teams. It was confirmed that a high level of emotional intelligence improves the performance of football players, especially in team play, increasing group cohesion.
Keywords: football, psychological factor, performance, athletes, school team