Pre-game expected mental states in men's mini-football teams: a comparative analysis

The aim of the paper is to present empirical research on pre-game expected mental states of mini-football players by means of valid psycho-diagnostic instruments before and after a competition; to compare the empirical results of the winners and losers (n=448). The research methods: content-analysis, tests with standardized questionnaires, factor analysis ANOVA with Varimax rotation. Factor analysis was used to determine pre-game expected mental states of the mini-football players who won (n=178) and mental states of those athletes who lost the game (n=176), the empirical data on the drawn games were not processed (n=94). The structure of pre-game expected mental states of the winners was created. The main state in this structure is F1 "Value-sense self-regulation" (23.51%), related to F2 "Pragmatic self-regulation" (rs=.398; p=.01) and F3 "Convergent self-regulation" (rs=.352; p=.01). The structure of pre-game expected mental states of the athletes who lost the game was also created. The main mental state in this structure is F1 "Pragmatic-moderate self-regulation" (15.05%), related to F2 "Distant self-regulation" (rs=.394; p=.01) and F3 "Sense-internal self-regulation" (rs=.322; p=.01).We determined that the most stable correlations in the factor structure of pre-gameexpected mental states of the mini-football players who lost the game are F2 "Distant self-regulation" (F1, F3, F4, F5, F6 and F8). We maintain that this mental state is the biggest danger for an athlete and a team game. The study substantiates the importance of training staff's ability to identify pre-game mental states of athletes and make efficient corrections before and in the course of a game. It describes content features of a regulatory function of athletes' mental states in competition activities. There search proves that training staff's ability to take into consideration pre-game expected mental states of mini-football players and construct probable scenarios of the course of events allows reacting in time and change the course of a competition positively. The obtained results can be useful for training staff, sports managers, and everyone who is engaged in training and managing mini-football and football clubs, and also for researchers in psychology of physical education and sport.