Level of anxiety and confidence of football players

The article examines the relationship between levels of self-confidence and anxiety among young football players in the context of high-achieving sports. The purpose of the work was to determine the levels of self-confidence and anxiety in sports competitions, as well as to reveal the relationships between these indicators. 18 football players, aged 16-17, who trained at the DYSSH-15 base in Kyiv, took part in the study. The Illinois Self Evaluation Questionnaire was used to assess psychological and physiological anxiety, and the Sports Competition Anxiety Test was used to assess anxiety in sports competitions. The results showed that a high level of psychological anxiety was found in 22.2% of athletes, while a high level of physiological anxiety was absent. The greatest discrepancy was observed at a low level of anxiety: 27.8% of athletes have a low level of psychological anxiety, and 72.2% have a low level of physiological anxiety. Correlation analysis showed a strong positive relationship between psychological and physiological anxiety (0.68) and a significant positive relationship between physiological anxiety and competition anxiety (0.60). The largest negative correlation was found between physiological anxiety and self-confidence (-0.31). Overall, the results highlight the importance of developing psychological support strategies to reduce anxiety and increase self-confidence among young athletes.