Abstract

Female wheelchair basketball players seem to be a population neglected by the research in sport psychology. So far, the majority of studies in the field of wheelchair basketball is addressed especially towards male players. In terms of optimizing (peak) performance by coaching adequately or conducting mental skills training programs, there is a necessity of getting more empirical data concerning psychological phenomena in female athletes. In this study, we wanted to find out more about self-efficacy and pre-competition anxiety in female players, especially in relation to physical impairment and player's classification, respectively. Forty-five German female elite players completed a German scale measuring self-efficacy with regard to basketball (11 items; 1 dimension) and a German adaptation of the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith, Smoll & Schutz, 1990; 3 dimensions). Both questionnaires have good psychometric properties. The participants were recruited from the 2006 two-day long Female German Wheelchair Basketball Championship (n = 40) and the 2006 Final Four Cup Final (n = 5). We found consistent results concerning self-efficacy and several levels of impairment. All comparisons showed significantly higher scores for less, hardly, or not impaired players in contrast to their more handicapped colleagues. Guided by the functional 4-category classification system, we calculated One-way ANOVAs and found, for example, higher scores for 3.0- to 4.5-class players vs. 1.0- to 2.5-class players (F(14) = 5.86; P = .02, eta2= .122) as well as higher scores for 4.5-class players vs. 1.0- to 4.0-class players (Fe 42)= 9.78; p = .003; eta2 = .189). In terms of pre-competition-anxiety, we could demonstrate a significantly lower score for 4.5-class players vs. others in the dimension of somatic anxiety just for n = 40, but not for N = 45. Consistent results were found for item No. 13, which questioned perceived positive vs. negative influence of somatic anxiety on personal performance. Less or not handicapped athletes considered somatic anxiety more positive than did those with stronger impairments. The results will be discussed at ISAPA 2007, supported with additional empirical data to be gathered over the next several months.