Compensatory phase of fatigue among football players in the organization of motivational structure

Abstract

This study empirically investigated the relationship between motivational factors and the compensatory phase of fatigue in football players. Methods: Valid and reliable psychodiagnostic tools were used, and the Pearson correlation coefficient determined statistically significant relationships. Results: The results of the research on the correlation between the dominant purposes (personal meanings) of sports activities and self-assessment indicators of athletes’ compensatory phase indicate that as emotional satisfaction, physical self-expression, social and emotional, and socio-moral motives increase – along with achievement of success, preparation for professional activity, and focus on satisfying sports-cognitive needs – the indicators of the compensatory phase in football players also increase. These indicators include well-being, activity, mood, performance, willingness to perform sports tasks, and confidence in their abilities. These same indicators of the compensatory phase of athletes improve with the increase in the indicators of the respondents’ motivational structure (internal, cognitive, competitive motives, self-respect motive, imbuing personal significance to activity results, the level of task difficulty, the manifestation of volitional effort, the assessment of the level of achieved results, self-potential assessment, the planned level of effort, the expected level of activity results, the consistency of results, initiative). Athletes with predominant motives of avoidance and changing current activities, on the contrary, exhibit negative manifestations of their psychophysiological state. Emotional changes, decrease of general activity, violation of the “sleep-wakefulness” cycle, and somato-vegetative disorders are observed in football players with low indicators of dominant purposes (personal meanings) of sports activities. High indicators of dominant purposes (personal meanings) of sports activities suggest that these football players exhibit insignificant manifestations of monotony, over-saturation, stress, and fatigue, which corresponds to their high performance. It has been established that athletes with high motivation for success rarely experience fatigue and somato-vegetative disorders, and are less prone to emotional changes, over-saturation, and stress. Highly motivated football players are distinguished by their performance in sports activities, strong willingness to perform sports tasks, confidence in their abilities, and good mood. Discussion and conclusions. Football players with a pronounced motive of avoidance and a motive of changing current activity have poor well-being and mood, low levels of activity, work performance, confidence in their abilities, and willingness to perform sports tasks. Based on empirical results, it has been found that athletes with high indicators of dominant purposes of sports activities are characterized by significantly lower levels of professional maladaptation.