Introduction
A measure of one's character and self-assurance, mental toughness can indicate success in the business, in school, and in sports. It was first introduced as a general idea in the context of sports training, as a group of qualities that help someone improve as an athlete and be able to handle challenging training and competitive conditions and come out on top without losing confidence. In recent decades, the word has been extensively employed by coaches, sport psychologists, sports pundits, and business leaders.
"Mental toughness" is generally used colloquially to refer to any set of positive traits that helps a person to cope with difficult situations. The word "mental toughness" is frequently used by coaches and sports pundits to describe the state of mind of athletes. Moran(2012)
Researchers from a variety of scientific disciplines are concentrating on competitive sports to disclose the possibility of understanding the various factors that influence it. Sports sciences specialists claim that a variety of elements influence an athlete's ability to perform at their best and to do so with ease. One of these elements is the person's mental faculties (Gonzalez, 2006). Although there are many mental aspects that have an impact on an athlete's performance, mental toughness is one of the most crucial ones. According to some experts, mental toughness accounts for at least 50% of an athlete's performance in the mind (Loehr, 1986). Gucciardi (2008) describes mental toughness as the ability to handle stress and overcome problems encountered in sports. In reality, the fact that this (Joneset al., 2002). It because the individual responds under duress while remaining composed and energized, it appears that mental toughness involves an intellectual component. So, those with mental toughness may cultivate and sustain a positive energy within them under challenging circumstances (Loehr, 1986). There are three components to mental toughness: dependability, stability, and control.
The ability of self-esteem and self-confidence, particularly when exposed to challenging situations like sporting events and stressful situations in general, is referred to as the reliability factor. The ability to adapt to the demands of training and competition as well as the willingness
of the athlete to assume responsibility for setting goals for training and competition make up the stability component. The nature of the control component includes the person's capacity to influence the circumstances as well (Jones et al., 2002). Those who believe they have control over many occurrences in their lives feel better about themselves, can overcome challenges and risks, and accomplish cognitive tasks more effectively than other people (Jones et al., 2002). So, having mental toughness benefits athletes.
Procedureand Methodology
A sample of Basketball players 20 male team athletes and Handball players 20 male Game players from Punjab were included in the current study (a total of 40 players). Allen Goldberg's Mental Toughness Questionnaire, which was used to gather data, was used. The questionnaire had 60 statements based on how respondents handled pressure. Mental resiliency (14 questions), Attentiveness (17 questions), and Winning attitude (9 questions). There are two possible outcomes for each assertion, truthful or incorrect. T-tests were used at the 0.05 level of significance for the data analysis after the questionnaires were given to all subjects.
Results and Discussion
To determine whether there is a noticeable difference in the mental toughness of participants in team sports and those playing individual sports, the t-test was used to analyze the data after administering the questionnaire to all of the subjects, with a 0.05 level of significance. Here is a statistical study of data related to mental toughness. The study's conclusions demonstrate how important Punjabi athletes were in both team and individual sports. It is abundantly obvious that the average mental toughness of Punjabi athletes who play team sports issue stantially higher than the average mental toughness of those who play solitary sports. Between Punjabi athletes who participated in team sports and those who played solo sports, there was a large disparity in mental toughness. These two groups had SD values of 4.89 and 4.14, respectively. These numbers illustrated the subjects' intra-group diversity. Given that the calculated value was discovered to be greater than the tabular value by 2.30 levels. Data thus gives sufficient assurance to guarantee that the
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