European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science ISSN: 2501 - 1235 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1235 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │ Issue 10 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1116455 THE EFFECTS OF BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS OF ATHLETES Deniz Bedir1i, Erim Erhan1, Ilhan Şen1, Fatih Bedir1, Ahmad Gökhan Yazici2 1 Faculty of Sport Sciences, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey 2 Kazım Karabekir Faculty of Education, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey Abstract: Introduction and Aim: Psychological skills are one of the determining factors in an individual's sportive performance. The psychology of the athlete before, during and after the competition directly affects his or her performance in the competition. According to the theory of self- determination, satisfying the individual's basic psychological needs is necessary for individual growth, integration, development, mental health and wellbeing. It has become necessary to conduct a research on how effective the satisfaction of basic psychological needs in the development of psychological skills affecting the performance of the athlete during the competition can be achieved by going out of this theoretical way. In this context, it is aimed at investigating the effect of basic psychological needs on psychological skills of athletes. Method: A total of 150 athletes, 39 females and 111 males, participated in the research in various sports branches. “ssessment of Psychological Skills by “thletes Inventory and ”asic Psychological Needs Inventory have been conducted to athletes. Descriptive statistical analysis, t test, ANOVA and linear regression analysis have been used in the analysis of the data. Findings: As a result of the analyses, there is no significant difference on the gender basis according to the scores obtained from the “ssessment of Psychological Skills by “thletes Inventory , while there is a significant difference in favor of the national athletes in terms of being national athletes (p=.004). Additionally, a linear regression analysis has been conducted to designate the extent to which the psychological needs of Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 356 Deniz Bedir, Erim Erhan, Ilhan Şen, Fatih Bedir, Ahmad Gökhan Yazici THE EFFECTS OF BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS OF ATHLETES the athletes explain their psychological skills. According to the results, the basic psychological needs explains 22.1% of the total variance related to the psychological skills of the athletes β=.4 9, t= . 9, p=. . Result: Accordingly, it can be said that satisfying basic psychological needs will contribute to the development of basic psychological skills. Keywords: psychological skills, basic psychological needs, subject well-being 1. Introduction Athletes have a series of factors which cause psychological disorders that impair their performances during the competitions. Beside high competitive capacity, physical endurance and tactic, coping strategies used by athletes in order to overcome these psychological disorders can create the difference between a champion and a loser (Rossi, Vitorino, Salles, & Cortez, 2016). Coping strategies, which are the key to success for the athlete, can be applied through using certain psychological skills. And how these skills can be used by the athlete is one of the affairs of sports psychology. It is one of the essential principle of the sports psychology that psychological skills are the important determinants. Moreover, it is important how the sports consultants, coaches and athletes would learn, teach and apply these skills (Williams, 1993). Psychological skills of athletes include mental training processes such as ability for coping with adversity, coachability, concentration, confidence and achievement motivation, goal setting and mental preparation, peaking under pressure and freedom from worry (Smith, Schutz, Smoll, & Ptacek). There are plenty of evidences about that in addition to the sportive performance; these skills play an important role for minimizing sports injuries (Gould, Weiss, Weinberg, 1981; Greenspan& Feltz, 1989; Mahoney, 1989; Mahoney, Gabriel, & Perkins, 1987; Hanson, McCullagh, & Tonymon, 1992; Smith, Smoll, & Ptacek, 1990; Williams, Tonymon, & Wadsworth, 1986). Sports experts, coaches and athletes apply for sports psychology in order to learn these sportive skills and mental training processes (Smith, Schutz, Smoll, & Ptacek). Psychological process of athletes before, during and after a competition affects their competition performance directly. The prerequisite for performing the athletes’ psychological skills effectively is that athletes should give all his concentration for the competition. In order to achieve this they should not have any physical or psychological needing. It is not possible to expect from athletes being concentrated on the competition effectively without meeting these necessities. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 3 │ Issue 10 │ 2017 357 Deniz Bedir, Erim Erhan, Ilhan Şen, Fatih Bedir, Ahmad Gökhan Yazici THE EFFECTS OF BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS OF ATHLETES Physical necessities can be defined as various sports equipment, instruments while psychological needs are human specific urges such as motivation, ambition, requirement, desire, hope and will to succeed Özaydın . Need is explained as pressure and impulse or requirement which arises in the brain which stems from either inner or outside motion “rslanoğlu, Tekin, “rslanoğlu, & Özmutlu, 2010). All psycho-social needs are generally named as basic needs (Eysenck, Arnold ve Meili, 1972). According to self-determination theory, satisfying individual’s basic psychological needs is necessary for individuals’ development, being socialized, improvement, mental health and wellness (Ryan ve Deci, 2000; Andersen, 2000). In selfdetermination theory, there are three basic psychological needs called as autonomy, competence and relatedness. In the theory, it is accepted that basic psychological needs are universal (Deci and Ryan, 1985; Ryan and Deci, 2000; Coleman, 2000). According to this theory, satisfying these needs are necessary for individuals’ growing up, being socialized, development, mental health and wellness (Ryan and Deci, 2000; Andersen, 2000). In the theory, it is stated that when three basic needs required for healthy development of individual are provided it will contribute for his strong-willed and of good quality motivation, durability of activity, increasing performance, stability and creativity. Thus, when the basic psychological needs are provided, individuals increase their efforts for their goal, use their capacity effectively therefore raise their wellness level Yarkın, 4. With the perspective of this theory, there have occurred a necessity for carrying out a study about that satisfying basic psychological needs are significantly important for developing psychological skills that affects the athletes’ performance during the competition. In this respect, research question is that how do the basic psychological needs affect athlete’s psychological skills . 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