Emotions and Performance in Elite Women Handball
Authors: F. Moen, K. Myhre, K. A. Andersen and M. Hrozanova
Corresponding Author:
Frode Moen
E-mail address: frode.moen@ntnu.no, Tel. : +47 932 487 50
Postal address: Department of Education and Lifelong learning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
Frode Moen is currently the head manager of the Olympic Athlete program in central Norway, where he also has a position as a coach / mental trainer for elite athletes and coaches. He also is an associate professor at the Department of Lifelong Learning and Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He previously has worked as a teacher in high school where sport was his major subject, and he has been a coach for the national team in Nordic combined in Norway for several years. Frode received his Ph.D. in coaching and performance psychology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His research focuses mainly on coaching in business, coaching in sport, communication, performance psychology and relationship issues.
Emotions and Performance in Elite Women Handball
ABSTRACT
This article looks at how emotions are associated with performance in elite women handball in Norway. The results show that positive emotions such as joy (exemplified by feeling satisfied, pleased, and happy), serenity (exemplified by feeling calm, balanced, and hopeful), interest (exemplified by feeling curious, interested, and immersed) and ecstasy (exemplified by feeling exhilarated, enthusiastic, and convinced) are positively associated with subjective performance. On the other hand, negative emotions such as anger (exemplified by feeling aggressive and angry), fear (exemplified by feeling nervous and afraid), sadness (exemplified by feeling sad and depressed) and remorse (exemplified by feeling ashamed and guilty) were found to be negatively associated with subjective performance. The present results showed that joy, serenity, and remorse uniquely explained 51% of the variance in subjective performance.
In general, results showed that positive emotions were most intense when the female elite athletes experienced positive events during trainings and matches and that negative emotions were most intense when the athletes experienced too challenging and negative events during trainings and matches. Triggers that elicited positive emotional responses in female elite athletes in the current study were mostly proactive in nature. The results are discussed in regard of applied implications and possible future research.
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