Coping Behavior in Professional Sport: Phenomenology and Diagnostics

Abstract

The high performance sport demands different mental skills, first of all, coping behavior skills. Main issue of research of coping behavior in psychology of sport and exercise is breadth of object of coping. Not only has athlete to cope with stress situation of trauma and recovery, failure experience or other difficulties, but also has to control his or her emotional state, which can vary from euphoria to anxiety, for it can affect his or her performance directly and indirectly. Consequently, issues of ability to handle stress, hardiness, self-control and emotion control are analyzed in this paper by reviewing coping behavior in sport. Current paper describes phenomenology and diagnostics in the field of athletes’ coping skills and is addressed to sport scientists and practicing psychologists.