The purpose of this study is to figure out the psychological states and routine strategies of excellent business team taekwondo match athletes in match situations.
In this study, a total of 10 taekwondo athletes consisting of five male and five female athletes registered with the Korea Taekwondo Association in 2016 or thereafter who won at least a prize in a national competition(qualified for final matches for the national team) were selected. Based on the athletes' data, a questionnaire was composed of a total of six questions comprising one question about their mental states before a match, one question about their mental states in a winning situation during a match, one question about their mental states in a losing situation during a match, one question about their routine strategies before a match, one question about their routine strategies in a winning situation during a match, and one question about their routine strategies in a losing situation during a match, selected through expert meetings. In order to analyze the mental states and routine strategies in match situations, the study was carried out through processes consisting of selection of study participants, in-depth interviews using a semi structured questionnaire, deposition recording, expert discussion, and data analysis in order of precedence. Inductive category analysis (Patton, 1990) was used to analyze those data that fit the purpose of this study and the recorded data collected from in-depth interviews were recorded. These data were discussed between a psychologist and a professional team of two Taekwondo leaders. In cases where the results of the analysis were found to be different from expert opinions after this researcher looked into the types of the questionnaire, conclusions were drawn through discussion on and revision of the problems of differences in opinions. In this study, the following results could be obtained.
The degrees of the tension of excellent business team taekwondo athletes according to match situations were analyzed and the results indicated that the degrees of tension changed according to match round situations and that the degree of tension was the highest in losing situations followed by situations before a match and winning situations, in order of precedence.
In addition, the mental states of excellent business team taekwondo athletes were analyzed and the results indicated that diverse mental states appeared. The causes that triggered mental arousal as a change in mental states before a match were derived and the results indicated that the athletes felt extreme tension and restlessness due to feelings of tension and insecurity. In addition, the results indicated that cognitive anxiety was triggered so that the athletes felt confusion in their mind and had many thoughts. In winning situations too, it was shown that mental arousal such as restlessness and extreme tension was triggered due to the feelings of tension and insecurity as the causes and that the athletes tried to achieve cognitive stability to avoid the trigger of mental arousal due to confusion and pressure regarding match situations. Finally, the degree of trigger of mental arousal was shown to be the highest in losing situations. The results of analysis indicated that such mental arousal triggered cognitive anxiety leading to the pressure from the will to win and the restlessness due to the necessity to turn the match around, and the athletes tried to achieve mental stability. The results of analysis of the routine strategies indicated that the athletes used diverse effective routine strategies according to match situations. In situations before a match, a behavioral strengthening routine was shown to be the most frequent among all dimensions. Among routine strategies in winning situations, concentration on winning was shown to be the most frequent and among routine strategies in losing situations, concentration on winning was shown to be the most frequent and mental stability and cognitive stability were shown to be at the same frequency.
Studies to develop effective and systemized mental skill routine strategy training programs and field guidance manuals that fit the characteristics of individual athletes in taekwondo match situations should be necessary.