PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH CYCLING PERFORMANCE OF INDIAN ELITE ROAD CYCLISTS

The purpose of the present study was to determine some psychological variables associated with cycling performance of Indian elite road cyclists. Twenty-one male road cyclists of age (24.49± 2.36) years were selected for this study. Some selected psychological parameters like Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test examines intelligence, perfection, understanding measured by Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Emotional stability was measured by Emotional Intelligence Scale by Hyde and Pethe, Focus, speed judgment, reaction time was measured by Vienna Test System (VTS), Schuhfried company and Motivation was measured by test for Motivational (Modified) ASI, Pune. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used for data analysis. Pearson’s product moment correlation was used to find out correlation between psychological variables and Individual Time trial (ITT) cycling performance. Some selected anthropometric and body composition parameters were assessed and results as follows; age (24.49±2.36 years), body height (1.74±0.04 cm), body weight (68.05±4.61 kg), BMI (22.49±0.97), body fat % (12.62±1.66) and water % (54.33±1.79). The analysis result revealed that Focus (r = -0.92), EQ (r = -0.81), Motivation (r = -0.78) and Emotional Stability (r = -0.65) were all strongly and negatively correlated with ITT cycling performance, indicating that higher levels of these psychological variables were associated with faster performance times of elite road cyclists at 0.05 significance level of confidence. Intelligence Quotient (IQ) (r = -0.21) showed a weak negative relationship with ITT cycling performance at 0.05 significance level of confidence. Therefore, the results of this study conclude that psychological variables are highly correlated with cycling performance. These results provide specific psychological status of Indian elite road cyclists, which are important for sports psychologists, sports scientists, coaches and cyclists as baseline data to identify talented athletes and prescribe mental skills training for elite cyclists. Further, it is recommended that study could be conducted on large population may contribute some new findings and on different sports events, gender and age groups.