Niveles de ansiedad competitiva experimentados por jugadores jóvenes de fútbol y diferencias por categoría

In children's football, the pressure to win has transformed the game into a bitter experience for many young athletes, which has led to a considerable increase in children dropping out of sporting activities. This pressure is often exerted by the athlete's environment, be it parents, coaches or the competitive environment that has been created in grassroots sports. Competitive anxiety can cause the athlete to perceive competition as threatening, triggering a series of reactions where anxiety plays a crucial role. In the present research, competitive anxiety was studied in two categories of football at an early age: the Infantil category and the Cadete category. There was a total of 124 participants in both categories. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used and the SAS-2 Competitive Anxiety Questionnaire was used as a measurement instrument. This instrument breaks down competitive anxiety into three subscales: somatic anxiety, worry and lack of concentration. The aim of the present study is to determine whether competitive anxiety varies according to sport category, specifically to determine the relationship between somatic anxiety and sport categories, between worry and sport categories and lack of concentration and sport categories. The results obtained in the study allow us to confirm that the hypothesis is not fulfilled and that therefore no significant differences have been found between both categories.