Pre-competition anxiety levels among Rahim Kajai college athletes in intercollegiate sports competitions

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the level of anxiety of Kolej Rahim Kajai (KRJ) athletes before the residential college sports competition. A total of 144 athletes consisting of 78 male athletes and 66 female athletes were randomly selected using probability sampling to answer a questionnaire. The ‘Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2’ (CSAI-2) questionnaire which was created by Cox & Russel (2003) was used to see the level of anxiety before a sports competition involving three aspects, namely cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence. The mean score and standard deviation are consulted to find out whether the interpretation is at a low, medium, or high level. The results of this study found that UKM KRJ athletes have a high level of cognitive anxiety (M=3.00, SP=0.41), moderate somatic anxiety (M=2.40, SP=0.77), and a moderate level of self-confidence (M=2.90, SP=0.32) before the competition. The results of the t-test showed that there was no significant difference in the level of cognitive anxiety (p=0.321), the level of somatic anxiety (p=0.220), and self-confidence (p=0.254) between genders. The study also found that there was no significant difference in the level of cognitive anxiety (p=0.813), the level of somatic anxiety (p=0.60), and self-confidence (p=0.29) between individual and group sports. The results of this study can be used as a guide to plan training for KRJ athletes in order to improve their performance during competitions in the future. This study also suggests training needed to deal with pre-competition anxiety and lack of self-confidence.