Competitive Anxiety and Superstitious Rituals among Athletes at a Private University

Marie Shaina D. De Asis

Kylle M. Moraña
Mikaella G. Tejano
Lenziel G. Tolon*
Ivy V. Singson
College of Teacher Education, University of Mindanao Davao

*Presenting author; email: lenziel02141977@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to describe the competitive anxiety and superstitious rituals
among 100 athletes and the relationshp between these two variables. Results indicated that athletes
reported high level of competitive anxiety. Also, before or while they compete in sports, they
always practice some rituals; such as dressing well to feel better or prepared, as well as prayer and
meditation. Furthermore, supersititious rituals, clothing and appearance, fetish rituals, and team
rituals were all positively correlated with competitive anxiety. Peadgogical implications are
discussed.

Keywords: Competitive Anxiety, Superstitious Rituals, Athletes, Davao City

Introduction:
Athletes possess fields of sports experienced anxiety before, during and even after a

competition. Fear, stress, tension are Anxiety in all level of a task can be a factor for an athlete

not to perform well. For a long time, worry becomes a psychological factor. Specifically, tension

and stress, assume a crucial role in competition (Lizuka, 2005). As supported by Moran (2004),

competitive sport can make even the world's best athletes feel apprehensive. Numerous
components, for example, desires, compulsiveness, a dread of disappointment, and absence of

certainty, incite sentiments of tension in athletes.

On the other hand, performing superstitions could assume a role in expanding a person's

feeling of self-viability and thus extending their level of execution (Damisch, Stoberock, &

Mussweiler, 2010). Elites athlete in Men’s journal, top Wendell, Turk as the Most superstitious

athletes in the world. To put a bluntly, Former New York Mets reliever was a full- blown maniac

when it came to superstition. A short when walking to the mound, chewing black licorice while

pitching and brushing his teeth between innings.list of the right hander’s many accentricities

includes always leaping over baselines (Murphy,2019).

Furthermore, athletes are doing things that have no apparent link with performance, but

believe that they need to do them. Because of this, athletes have less time to do things that might

contribute to a positive outcome. If an athlete is prevented from engaging in these superstitious

rituals like wearing their lucky item, it might cause an increase in anxiety and agitation, along with

a reduction in confidence and expectation of a good outcome which leads to poor performance

(Thompson, 2017).

Flanagan (2013) cited on her research that she used a cross-sectional survey design with The Superstitious

Ritual Questionnaire (Bleak & Frederick, 1998) and The Competitive State Inventory-2 (Cox, Martens &

Russell, 2003), athletes from a variety of team and individual sports. Findings revealed that the use of

superstitious rituals did not significantly reduce competitive anxiety levels or vary in frequency between

genders.

It is in this context that the researcher was encouraged to conduct study that superstitious

rituals consider as an aid to deal with anxiety in competition among the athletes in the University

of Mindanao.
Material and Method
This study utilized a descriptive correlational design. Expressive research design will

give a preview of the flow situation, while correlational research configuration will find

connections among factors and to permit the forecast of future occasions from present information

(Stangor, 2011).

Descriptive design determined the competitive anxiety, and the frequency of superstitious rituals

among athletes, and correlation design examined the relationship between those variables. It

generally used surveys of data that rely on existing records

RESPONDENTS

The researchers choose the school University of Mindanao focusing on the athletes as

respondents of the study during 1st Sem/ 1st term of SY 2018- 2019 . The sampling technique

that was employed in the selection. Since, there are 246 athletes, the comprehensive sampling

formula used to determine the number of percents. There are only 100 respondents that are

identified as the central part of the study. Therefore, when the required number of samples reached,

statistical treatment started.

Instruments
The questionnaire constructed by Bleak and Frederick (1998) was adopted in this

study. The survey covers the competitive anxiety and superstitious rituals which consists of

clothing appearance, fetish, and team rituals.

 The said tool consists of 20 items, eight (8) items for the competitive anxiety and (12)

twelve issues for the superstitious rituals. The Cronbach's Alpha of Competitive Anxiety got the

result of .955 while Superstitious Rituals got .727 which means that the survey was reliable.

Result and Discussion

Table 1. Level of Competitive Anxiety among Athletes
Items x̅ SD
5 1
2. I feel nervous. 4 1
3. I have self-doubts. 3 1
4. I feel jittery. 3 1
5. I am concerned if I may not do as well in this
competition as I could. 4 1
6. My body feels tense. 4 1
7. I am concerned about losing. 4 1
8. I am concerned about performing poorly. 4 1

Overall 4 1
Table 5. Superstitious Rituals among athletes
Indicators x̅ SD
Clothing Appearance 3 .88
Fetish 2 1
Team Rituals 4 .78
Overall 3 .93

Correlation between Anxiety and Superstitious Rituals

5
OVER ALL 2.8
4.5

3
TEAM RITUALS 1.8
3.5

2
FETISH 4.4
2.5

2
CLOTHING APPEARANCE 2.4
4.3

0 1 2 3 4 5

Mean Score Reading Score Statistics

Note:**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed); N = 100. Correlation is

significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 6. Correlations between Competitive Anxiety and Superstitious Rituals

 Statistics Reading Score
Clothing Appearance Pearson’s r .331**
p-value .001

Fetish Pearson’s r .311**

p-value .002

Team Rituals Pearson’s r .316**

p-value .001

(Overall) Pearson’s r .407**

p-value .000

Note:**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed); N = 100. Correlation is significant
at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Level of Manifestation Among Athletes

Competitive Anxiety – High descriptive Equivalent – Often manifested

Superstitious Rituals – Low Descriptive Equivalent – Rarely Manifested
1. Clothing Appearance – moderate DE - Sometimes Manifested
2. Fetish – Moderate DE - Rarely Manifested
3. Team Rituals - High DE - Often Manifested

Based on the findings obtained in this study, the following conclusions are drawn.

The level of competitive anxiety among athletes in terms of clothing appearance is

moderate; in terms of fetish is low; and in terms of team rituals is high.

There is a significant relationship between competitive anxiety and superstitious rituals.

Recommendation
The athletes

 engage more to any competitions

 attend seminars about anxiety management

 continue applying their beliefs while competing helps them to be comfortable.

The coaches

 should guide the athletes who have been suffering to anxiety

 kept aware of different psychological factors and behavioral affecting to the

performance of the athletes and

 equal emphasis should be given for psychological preparations.

The researchers

 seek more information focus on athletes’ anxiety

References
Moran, K. a. (2008). The practice of applied sport, exercise, and performance psychology:. Irish and
international perspectives. Retrieved from
file:///C:/Users/alag/Desktop/References/Kremer%20and%20Moran%202008.pdf

Lizuka, A. C. (2005). Anxiety and Performance in young table tennis player. Retrieved from
file:///C:/Users/alag/Desktop/References/Lizuka%202005.pdf