Competence of coaches and cross-country skiers in psychological support

The purpose of the study is to determine the main tasks of psychological support for cross-country skiers. Research methods and organization. A standardized authorial questionnaire was used, which included a list of psychological support tasks for coaches and athletes. The methodology involves athletes' self-assessment: the questionnaire evaluated the sincerity of responses; 9 questions were taken from H. Eysenck's methodology. Indicators were assessed on a 10-point scale. The subjects were cross-country skiers with 3 to 8 years of experience in skiing, both women and men aged 19.8 ± 1.2 years, as well as coaches. Conclusions. It has been found that athletes' knowledge of psychological challenges and methods for overcoming them lags behind that of coaches. The necessity of an individualized approach in teaching athletes psychological support techniques has been substantiated.