Abstract des Autors

Since the beginning of the 1980s, numerous studies focused on differences in mental Skills of successful athletes in comparison to less successful athletes (Gould, Dieffenbach, and Moffett, 2002; Orlick and Partington, 1988). Krane and Williams (2006) summarized these studies to a general profile of peak performance that is composed by following characteristics: high self-confidence and expectations of success, self-regulation and arousal, feeling in control, total concentration, keen focus on the present task, viewing difficult situations as exciting and challenging, productively perfectionist, positive attitude and thoughts of performance, and strong determination and commitment. However, there is a lack of studies on sport-specific psychological profiles to achieve peak performance. It is assumed that different sports require different profiles of mental skills and therefore a sport-specific focus has to be attached to mental skills. Adolescence is an especially important stage to develop the talent of an athlete. Thus, this study addresses mental skills in this specific focus group. By the comparison of female adolescent Alpine skiers (individual Sport) and female adolescent soccer players (team sport), knowledge should be gained of possible differences in sport-specific mental skills.