The comparison of elite and non-elite martial athlete's mental skills profile

The purpose of this study was to compare the selected mental skills of elite and nonelite armed forces athletes with the national elite athlete's ones.
The research method is descriptive and causal-comparative. One hundred forty one elite and non-elite martial athletes were selected randomly from the relevant communities, then answered to the Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tools version 3. This questionnaire assesses 12 mental skills in three categories including foundation skills, psychosomatic skills and cognitive skills. The data was analyzed by using the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and t-tests by using SPSS 18 software.
The results showed that in terms of 8 mental skills including self-confidence, commitment, goal setting, relaxation, activation, imagery, mental practice and competition planning the armed forces elite athletes in comparison with non-elite athletes had significantly higher scores. But, in four mental skills including fear control, stress reaction, focusing and refocusing, there were no significant differences between them. Whiles, in terms of stress reaction and focusing mental skills the national elite athletes in comparison with non-elite athletes had significantly higher scores.
These findings indicate that the high levels of elite player's mental skills will probably be one of the reasons for their success in the tournaments. According to the results of this study, we recommend the coaches of armed forces to use the mentioned mental skills in non-elite armed forces athletes to improve their performances. Also it is recommended that elite athletes should improve their fear control, stress reaction, focusing and refocusing mental skills in order to achieve better performance and maintain their skill level.