Athletic performance and mindfulness in track and field athletes

Abstract

In the present study, the mindfulness levels of track and field (athletics) athletes were evaluated based on variables such as branch of sports (sprints, middle-distance, jumps and throws), gender, age, national athlete status, personel best record and athletic experience. 213 certified athletes (67 female-22.6% and 146 male-49.3%) competing at the national and international level in the branches of sprints, middle-distance, jumps and throws as part of different clubs affiliated to the Turkish Athletic Federation in the year 2020 and performing regular training at least 6 days a week voluntarily participated in the study. In the present cross-sectional study, the Mindfulness Inventory for Sport (MIS) developed by Thienot et al. (2014) and adapted to Turkish by Tingaz (2020c) was used. Data collection was carried out online through Google Forms. The independent t-test and the one-way analysis of variance were used in the evaluation of data. Based on the findings of the present study, it was determined that the athletes with high performance had higher mindfulness levels. Additionally, it was found that the national athletes and the athletes with high training experience had higher mindfulness levels in different sub-dimensions and in terms of the gender variable, the mindfulness levels of the female participants were higher. It is also notable that the athletes who perform mental training had higher mindfulness levels compared to those who do not. In the evaluation based on branches, it was observed that the sprinters were more competent in the refocusing sub-dimension compared to the athletes in all other branches. The findings obtained in the present study indicated that mindfulness can be affected by different variables. However, considering that the most important goal for athletes is to improve their performance, it is important for them to be aware of the positive effects of mindfulness. Based on this, it can be suggested for athletes to include mindfulness exercises in their training program and develop this approach as much as possible in order to support their athletic performance.