PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF RUGBY PLAYERS-ANALYSIS BETWEEN ATHLETES OF THE U18 AND U20 NATIONAL ELITE TEAMS IN THE POSITIONS OF FORWARDS AND DEFENDERS

Abstract

Marco Batista, Samuel Honório, José Catarino, Luis Vaz, Helder Fernandes, João Petrica

Anxiety has long been considered as one of the most harmful psychological factors for sports performance, and in this context, the focus in terms of intervention has always been the search for the best strategies and techniques and the development or adaptation of the best programs in trying to lower those anxiety levels (Carvalho, 2007). The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychological abilities of the U18 and U20 elite athletes of the National Portuguese Rugby Team, who participated respectively in the U18 Elite European Championships (2016) and in the U20 World Rugby Trophy (2016), comparing the defenders with the forward players. The three psychological skills under study were basic psychological skills, psychosomatic psychological skills and cognitive psychological skills. Regarding the age groups, the U18 presented better results in the basic psychological skills and in the cognitive psychological skills. The U20 presented better indicators in the parameters of psychosomatic psychological skills. According to the player’s positions, forward players had better results in all psychological skills.