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Author
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Bayo, Pauline
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Title
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Developing The U20 Girls' Netball Psychosomatic Coping Skills Inventory At Watershed College During The 2023-24 League Season.
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Abstract
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The research focused on developing the U20 Girls' Netball psychosomatic coping skills inventory at Watershed College during the 2023-24 league season. Netball was introduced as a sports expansion and participation strategy to decongest other sports. The inclusion of the Watershed U20 Girls in the 2023-24 league season appeared uncertain for them regarding their psychological dispositions. This was also the first time they were to participate in Netball competitively at Trust Schools level thereby entering the league as greenhorns. There is a lack of empirical data and methodical measurement tools tailored to this demographic particularly at Watershed and in Zimbabwe largely. The absence of such information hinders the development of targeted interventions to enhance the players' psychological coping skills. Therefore, this research aimed to establish the existing levels of psychosomatic coping skills of the U20 Girls Netball team at Watershed College. This was expected to lead to a comprehensive understanding of their psychological coping skills and coming up with appropriate interventions to guide their improvement during the 2023-24 league season.
A concurrent mixed method approach involving a qualitative approach through the use of interviews and quantitative data is obtained through the use of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28) questionnaire survey. A non-probability sampling method was used to determine the sample and consequently twenty-four (24) U20 Netball players, two (2) Coaches and one (1) School Psychologist were recruited in the study. The SPSS version 23 and NVIVO software were used to analyse data. In analysing relations between subscales, ANOVA was used. A triangulation of findings was conducted to assist in quantifying and validating the level of coping skills among the U20 Watershed Girls netball players. The study showed that the U20 Watershed Netball Girls displayed low scores in goal setting and mental preparation at 39% and freedom from worry score at 43%. The moderate scores were shown in peaking under pressure score at 45%, with the coping score at 46% and confidence and achievement motivation at 49%. Commendable scores were shown in concentration and coachability sub-scores at 52% and 70% respectively. The total psychological skills score for the players was 44%. Increased peaking under pressure, goal setting and peaking under pressure scores appeared to meaningfully correlate with increased coping skills according to these results at ≤0.05. However, the coachability, freedom from worry and concentration scores did not appear to reliably predict coping abilities based on this sample at ≥0.05.
The study revealed the psychological coping skills of the female Netball players contextual to Watershed College in Zimbabwe. It sets a benchmark for future research initiatives and interventions aimed at promoting holistic female athlete development in secondary school sports programmes in Zimbabwe.
Key Words
Netball, Psychosomatic, Girls, Coping, Skills, Inventory, Coachability, Concentration, Confidence, Achievement, Goal setting, Peaking, Freedom, Worry, Interventions.
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Date
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JULY 2024
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Publisher
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BUSE
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Keywords
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Netball, Psychosomatic, Girls, Coping, Skills, Inventory, Coachability, Concentration, Confidence, Achievement, Goal setting, Peaking, Freedom, Worry, Interventions.
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Supervisor
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Dt Charumbira
