STRESS COPING STRATEGIES OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETES DURING COMPETITION
STRESS COPING STRATEGIES OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETES DURING COMPETITION
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2011-04
Authors
Madaki, Aliyu Mohammed
Adeyanju, F.B.
Kabido, A.I.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the stress coping strategies of Nigerian university athletes during competition. Apart from facing the problems prevailing in the university community, he or she has to cope with the added stress of competition, such as inter-faculties, NUGA, WAUG, Classics and the like. This research therefore studied the strategies such athletes adopt to cope with stress during competition. An ex-post facto research design was used for the study. The population consist of 587 (336 male and 251 female) athletes who attended the 19' NUGA held at University of Ibadan. The results of the study revealed that social support was the most appreciated strategy of coping with stress by university athletes. This support comes from athlete’s peers, lecturers, coaches, teammates, family members, friends and most importantly sport psychologists. Furthermore, the study revealed insignificant difference between gender groups, sport groups and NUGA experience in the strategies university athletes used to cope with stress during competition. However, there were differences between athletes with different age groups and years of experiences in sports competition in their stress coping strategies. Athletes of21- 25 years expressed different coping strategies with athletes of other age groupings, and those with three years of sports experiences significantly differ than athletes of one, two, and four and above years of competition experiences. It is therefore suggested that coaches, families, friends, colleagues, lecturers and sport psychologists should continue to educate and support athletes to cope with stress effectively and appropriately.
Description
A JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA
VOLUME 6 NUMBER 1
Keywords
STRESS COPING STRATEGIES,, NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETES,, COMPETITION