<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Ice hockey is considered one of the most competitive sports, and it requires physical and mental preparation to perform appropriately under the pressure of a competitive environment. The present study aims to investigate the impact of competitive sports on executive functions such as emotion regulation, inhibitory control, working memory, and competitive attitudes among near-elite ice hockey players. Near-elite athletes have been gathered (N = 67) from the four Hungarian Ice-Hockey Academies. Our results indicated a small positive association between Canadian points and maladaptive emotion regulation and a slight positive correlation between maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation and false alarms of the N-back task. The result revealed a significant difference between National and Non-National Team members in maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation regarding hypercompetitive attitude. The result of linear regression revealed that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation significantly predicts false alarms, indicating that the maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation explains 10% of the variance. In conclusion, we highlight the role of the environment, which affects executive functions and competitive attitudes alongside sports performance. Although the findings were mainly correlational, we can conclude that the nature of competitive ice hockey expects certain behavior for the players indifferent of the situation that could lead to emotion suppression, rumi-nation and other maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. We can also conclude that inadequate emotion regulation might be related to the overstimulation of players, characterized by a hypersensitive state to stimuli. We suggest that practitioners ensure the development of adequate competitive attitudes of players to enable long-term physical and psychological benefits.</p>
</abstract>

Ice hockey is considered one of the most competitive sports, and it requires physical and mental preparation to perform appropriately under the pressure of a competitive environment. The present study aims to investigate the impact of competitive sports on executive functions such as emotion regulation, inhibitory control, working memory, and competitive attitudes among near-elite ice hockey players. Near-elite athletes have been gathered (N = 67) from the four Hungarian Ice-Hockey Academies. Our results indicated a small positive association between Canadian points and maladaptive emotion regulation and a slight positive correlation between maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation and false alarms of the N-back task. The result revealed a significant difference between National and Non-National Team members in maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation regarding hypercompetitive attitude. The result of linear regression revealed that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation significantly predicts false alarms, indicating that the maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation explains 10% of the variance. In conclusion, we highlight the role of the environment, which affects executive functions and competitive attitudes alongside sports performance. Although the findings were mainly correlational, we can conclude that the nature of competitive ice hockey expects certain behavior for the players indifferent of the situation that could lead to emotion suppression, rumi-nation and other maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. We can also conclude that inadequate emotion regulation might be related to the overstimulation of players, characterized by a hypersensitive state to stimuli. We suggest that practitioners ensure the development of adequate competitive attitudes of players to enable long-term physical and psychological benefits.

Executive Functions and Competitive Attitudes in Near-Elite Ice Hockey Players

Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Executive Functions and Competitive Attitudes in Near-Elite Ice Hockey Players"}

Ice hockey is considered one of the most competitive sports, and it requires physical and mental preparation to perform appropriately under the pressure of a...

Executive Functions and Competitive Attitudes in Near-Elite Ice Hockey Players

Published Online: Mar 17, 2024

Page range: -

Received: Oct 27, 2023

Accepted: Jan 02, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2024-0015

Keywords
inhibitory control, competitive attitudes, cognitive emotional regulation, near-elite ice hockey players

© 2024 Borbála Tamás et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Executive Functions and Competitive Attitudes in Near-Elite Ice Hockey Players

Published Online: Mar 17, 2024

Page range: -

Received: Oct 27, 2023

Accepted: Jan 02, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2024-0015

Keywordsinhibitory control, competitive attitudes, cognitive emotional regulation, near-elite ice hockey players

© 2024 Borbála Tamás et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
inhibitory control, competitive attitudes, cognitive emotional regulation, near-elite ice hockey players