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• IMPORTANCE OF THE MENTAL PREPARATION FOR COMPETITION AMONG YOUNG ATHLETES

  Orsolya Borók

  Éva Bácsné Bába

  Views:

  989

  The mental preparation of athletes for competition has become more appreciated. In this paper, we asked young athletes in Hungarian team sports about their experiences and expectations in mental preparation. In the research, we used an online questionnaire where 165 valuable responses were received. Most of the respondents were women, between 15-24 years of age, high school and college graduates, with urban background. Almost 90% of respondents have been confronted an obstacle with a negative impact on performance in sports before. Most athletes know well the activities of sports psychologists, however, only 10% of them have been mentally trained so far, while 70% of them would need it. Those sports associations achieve more successful results in the talent management, where sports psychologist was involved in the assessment of young children. Based on these, sports organizations should use a sports psychologist, because it could help achieve better sports performance for players and teams.

• PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS MONITORING USING INVASIVE AND NON-INVASIVE METHODS IN ATHLETES

  Gabriella Makra

  László Balogh

  Views:

  662

  Introduction: The quality of performance is essential both in everyday life and in competition. In sports science (also), we have to think of the man in a complex way as a bio-psycho-social unit. In addition to changes in ECG HR and blood cortisol levels, gastrointestinal tract movements are also associated with stress management (FUKUNAGA et al., 2000) (VIANNA - TRANEL, 2006), which plays a crucial role in determining the quality of performance. Several preclinical trials have formed the basis of our research (SZŰCS et al., 2018).

  Objective: Based on our earlier research and literature reviews, we would like to test and participate in validating a new method that can monitor the effects of stress on humans in real-time, in a non-invasive way, with quantitative results. In addition to GI monitoring, cortisol levels are measured invasively in the subjects, so we hope to obtain complex results.

  Methods: n = 13, athletes, male = 11, female = 2, mean age 22 +/- 1,031 years. Our protocol was 115 minutes, in which we distinguished four stages (rest, stress, latency 1, latency 2). We use two methods to measure stress. One is the blood cortisol level (ELISA), and the other is the MDE Heidelberg Stress Holter (EGG), which is an innovative measurement tool capable of simultaneously examining several parameters (Small Intestine, Colon, Stomach, ECG HR). The VTS DT package was used as a stressor.

  Result: Based on the complex results of the EGG, we can conclude that the Small Intestine, Colon, and Stomach motility, as assessed by the Power Spectrum (PS) Fold Change (FC) calculation, increased together under stress, and then latency decreased together over time. However, the rate of change in cortisol levels showed that most participants adapted the stressor as eustress so that its value decreased linearly.

  Conclusions: Innovative measurement and evaluation methods are well utilized, as they can communicate many measurement data in a valid, real-time, non-invasive way, with a parallel display. These data and results will be used in athlete selection, mental training, elite sports, neuro-biofeedback, and health preservation.