sports success

The athlete's skills and psychological state often influence success in sports performance. The current study aims to explain the performance in paintball competitions based on cognitive resilience and cognitive regulation of emotion. The study participants included all paintball players participating in national paintball competitions (the year 2022), including 17 teams of 7 players, a total of 116 people. In order to investigate the psychological components affecting the athletes' performance, Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) were used. After completing these questionnaires, IBM SPSS Statistics version 26 was used to analyze the data. Pearson's correlation coefficient and stepwise regression were used to analyze the data. The results showed a significant relationship between resilience scores, the overall score of cognitive emotion regulation, and the scores of 9 emotion regulation strategies with the players' performance in the paintball competition (P≤0.05). Players who achieved better results in tournaments, scored higher on the resilience factor. Also, players who achieved better results in matches had higher scores on emotion regulation strategies like self-blame, positive refocusing, refocus on planning, positive reappraisal, and putting into perspective, and lower scores on the acceptance, rumination, catastrophizing and other-blame strategies. This study showed that cognitive resilience and emotion regulation could be used as predictors of success and winning positions in paintball competitions.

Background: Superstitions and rituals have long been a part of sports culture, with many athletes believing that they can bring good luck or improve their performance. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between superstitions and sports success in Iraqi football league players. Materials and Methods: This study used a descriptive-correlational analysis method, with data collected in the field from a sample of 200 players randomly selected from the population of players in the Iraqi football premier league. Two standard questionnaires, Superstition in Sports and Sports Success Questionnaire, were used to collect data, both of which were designed based on the Likert five value range. Results: The study found that there is a significant relationship between superstitions and sports success, with the most important priority related to the component of "team ritual" (5.58) in superstitions and "commitment" (4.58) in sports success. The study also found that 37% of changes in sporting success are related to superstitious components. Conclusion: Based on the study's findings, it can be concluded that the use of superstitious rituals can have a positive effect on the sports success of athletes.