The researcher of this study aim to know about the role of Superstitions Behavior and Will to Win in Basketball Performance. To obtain data, the investigator had selected Fifty (N=50) male inter-college level basketball players of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab were selected for this study. The purposive sampling technique was used to attain the objectives of the study. All the subjects, after having been informed about the objective and protocol of the study, gave their consent and volunteered to participate in this study. They were further divided into (N=10) each playing position i.e. Point guard (n 1 =10), Shooting guard (n 2 =10), Small forward (n 3 =10), Power forward (n 4 =10) and Center (n 5 =10). To measure the level of superstitions behaviors of the subjects, the superstitions beliefs and behaviour scale constructed by Bleak and Frederick (1998) was administered. To measure the level of will to win was measured by applying will to win questionnaire prepared by Kumar and Shukla (1998). One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to find out the intragroup differences. Where F values were found significant LSD (Least Significant Difference) Post-hoc test was applied to find out the direction and degree of difference. For testing the hypotheses, the level of significance was set at 0.05. In a nutshell it can be said that from the findings that significant differences were found in basketball players Point Guard, Shooting Guard, Small Forward, Power Forward and Center on the sub-variables of Superstitions Behavior i.e., Clothing and Appearance, fetish, Team Ritual and Superstitious (Total). However, insignificant differences had been observed in the basketball players Point Guard, Shooting Guard, Small Forward, Power Forward and Center on the sub-variables of Superstitions Behavior i.e., Preparation, Game/Competition, Prayer and Coach. Conculdingly from the above findings that insignificant differences were present in the basketball players on the variable of will to win.

The aim of the study was to assess the superstitious ritual behavior of the University level sports persons and to find out that male or female athlete who believes more in superstitions. Eighty-three (83) University level athletes (Male – 44 and Female – 39) of 18 to 25 years from Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India have been selected through purposive random sampling. The Superstitious Ritual Questionnaire (SRQ) framed by Flanagan (2013) has been used to assess the superstitious ritual behavior and its effectiveness on sports performance enhancement. In overall percentage 25.30% of male athletes and 20.48% of female athletes are of the opinion that sometimes superstitious ritual behavior is effective in sports performance enhancement. Statistical analysis does not reveal any significant relationship between superstitious ritual behavior (Male: Mean 108.48, SD 22.38; Female: Mean 109.03, SD 24.46) and its effectiveness (Male: Mean 3.23, SD 0.74; Female: Mean 2.80, SD 0.73...

The purpose of this study is to analyze some superstitious behaviors perceived of student athletes in terms of different variables. A total of 83 athletes composed of 41 females and 42 males who engage in tennis voluntarily participated in the research. Average age of the participants is 21.3765 and standard deviation is 1.60339. Superstitious Behavior Inventory developed by H.G. Buhrmann and M.K. Zaugg (1981) and adapted into Turkish by Barut (2008) was used to determine superstitious behaviors of athletes. SPSS 18.0 package program was used for the analysis of data. Percentage, frequency, average, standard deviation values were applied for descriptive information, independent t-test for the comparison of different groups, one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) for the comparison of multiple groups and Tukey HSD post-hoc test for the occurrence of differences. Besides, correlation analysis was applied in order to determine the relation between the variables. The significance level was a...

This study examined the superstitious behavior and decision making among individual, dual and team sport groups. To obtain required data, the investigators had selected Ninety (N = 90) male intercollege level athletes of 19 to 25 years of age to act as subjects. They were divided into three groups; Thirty (n1 = 30) Individual Sports, Thirty (n2 = 30) Dual Sports and Thirty (n3 = 30) Team Sports athletes of various games and sport. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the subjects. All the subjects, after having been informed about the objective and protocol of the study, gave their consent and volunteered to participate in this study. To measure the level of superstitions behaviors of the subjects, the superstitions beliefs and behaviour scale constructed by Buhramann et al. (2004) was administered and to measure the level of decision making by applying decision making questionnaire prepared by French et al. (1993). One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to find out the intra-group differences. To test the hypothesis, the level of significance was set at .05. The results revealed significant intra-group differences among individual, dual and team sports on the variable superstitious behavior and decision making. It is concluded that the individual sport group has low superstitious belief and better decision making level as compared to their counterpart dual and team sport.

Superstition is defined as a collection of unreasonable beliefs about the cause and the effect, i.e. the conviction that the future is affected by certain actions without any logical casual relationship. It is important to make a difference between superstitions and prejudices, defined as certain attitudes which are not based on rational arguments or experiences but are results of one’s subjective opinion and generalization. The purpose of the study was to investigate the superstitious beliefs among the national level basketball players. The data for the study comprised of 381 national and state level basketball players between the age group of 15 to 35 participated in youth junior and senior national championship between2011 to 2014. To achieve the purpose of the study 157 no. of boys 224 no. of girls whole heartedly participated during their participation in national championship approved by basketball federation of India. The average age of the students were under 16 in youth, under 18 in junior, and above in senior. The data for this study collected from the sample with the Superstitious Ritual questionnaires (SRQ) (Bleak & Frederick, 1998), which will measure superstitious beliefs, behavior and rituals. It was hypothesized that there will be significant difference in superstitious beliefs among different age groups of national level basketball players. The data pertaining to Superstitious Beliefs was tested using multivariate Analysis of Variance(MANOVA) and Analysis of variance(ANOVA) for analyzing the differences exist between grouping variables. The ANOVA results reveals that the dependent variable , Team rituals found significant differ between groups viz.; youth, junior and senior. The pair wise comparison shows that, the male Basketballplayers is having highest superstitions beliefs. The study also concluded that he players belonging to youth category are more superstitious compared to juniors and seniors.

This study examined the effects of personality and situational differences on superstition behaviours in sports at three non-professional competition levels. The participants were 219 athletes (169 males, 50 females). We measured superstition by the number and kind of superstitious rituals (SRs), degree of superstitious feeling, and ritual commitment (RC). We used a within-group design that involved manipulating competition importance and uncertainty using scenarios to examine changes in pre-game psychological tension and RC. We found that sport superstition is positively correlated with athletic identity and pre-game psychological tension. Level of competition affects RC. RC is greater when the uncertainty and importance of the game are greater. Moreover, within-variable mediation analysis revealed that state of psychological tension mediated the effect of both uncertainty and importance on RC. Collectively, the results of the present investigation offer empirical support for Neil’...

This study examined the relationships between primary and secondary control strategies, coping, and superstitious behaviour. Participants were 349 student-athletes from the UK and Ghana, consisting of 194 males and 155 females. The nationality breakdown was 177 British student-athletes and 172 Ghanaian student-athletes. Participants completed five inventories measuring superstitious behaviours, personal control, control strategies, coping skills, and social desirability. Sequential multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between these constructs. A 2 by 2 analysis of covariance was conducted to assess the main and interactive effects of gender and nationality on superstitious behaviour. Findings demonstrated that personal control, coping mechanisms, and control strategies predicted superstitious behaviour. The findings suggest that athletes may engage in superstitious behaviour as a coping mechanism and as a secondary control strategy to offer them a sense of being in control in stressful situations. The results suggest that Ghanaian student-athletes may engage in superstitious behaviour more than British student-athletes. Results are discussed in relation to previous research and practical implications are delineated. Keywords: student-athletes; personal control; coping mechanism; control strategies; superstitious behaviour The inherent competitiveness of athletes and the