A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS IN HANDBALL PERFORMANCE BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL AND NON SUCCESSFUL TEAMS

The main purpose of the study was to compare the athletic coping skills between the playersof successful and non-successful Handball Team. To achieve the purpose, a total of 80 Handball players(successful team players= 40, and non-successful team players= 40) were selected randomly from theaffiliated colleges of Kerala University, Kerala. The age of the subject were ranged from 20-25 years.The players of successful and non successful handball Team according to the position in the KeralaUniversity Intercollegiate Handball Tournament during the year 2013. The athletic psychological skillssuch as Confidence & Achievement Motivation, Peaking under pressure & concentration were selected ascriterion variables for the study. Athletic coping skills were measured through athletic coping skillsinventory -28 (ACSI-28) questionnaires, and it was developed by Smith et Al in the year of 1995. Staticgroup comparison design was used. All the subjects were tested on selected criterion variables. Thecollected data were statistically analyzed by using independent ‘t’ ratio. The level of significance was fixedat .05 level of confidence for all the cases to test the hypotheses. In conclusion, there was a significantdifference exists between successful and non successful handball players on peaking under pressure therewas a no significant difference exists between successful and non successful handball players onconfidence & achievement motivation, concentration. Successful handball players were found strong inall selected athletic coping skills when compared to non successful handball players.