Investigating psychological factors affecting performance of athletes in Turkish olympics preparation centers

This study was planned to determine psychological factors affecting sportive success andperformance of athletes who continue to train at Turkish Olympics Preparation Center (TOPC). The purpose of this study was to investigate psychological factors affecting performances of athletes at TOPC. Sample and population of this study consisted of 1100 athletes who continue active sports at Turkish Olympics Preparation Centers of The Ministry of Youth and Sports in 22 cities in Turkey and 371 volunteer TOPCs athlete from several sports branches who were determined random sampling method. In this study 'Psychological Performance Assessment in Sports Scale' which adapted to Turkish by Aydoğan and Konaş (2022) and 'Personal Information Form' prepared by researcher were conducted. SPSS 26.0 package used in Statistical analysis. To determine general characteristics of data, Descriptive statistics, frequency and per cent distributions were conducted. In statistical tests, firstly Skewness and Kurtosis coefficients of total score were considered primarily. It was determined that skewness and kurtosis coefficients did not change between +2 and -2. However, it was determined that data did not show normal distribution as a result of Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests. Mann Whitney U test was used for pairwise comparison of data which had not normal distribution and Kruskal Wallis-H test was conducted for comparisons that are 3 and above. In case there were significant differences in Kruskal Wallis-H test, these differences were determined by Mann Whitney U test. As a result of study, it was determined that variables like 'Gender, Education Status, International Success Status, Being a National Athletes Status, Psychological performance Support need and Age variable' were among the psychological factors that have effects on sportive performance. However, other variables like 'Family Monthly Income, Sports Experience with a license, Training Days within a week, Training hours within a day, the status of receiving a National Degree and Experiencing a Serious Sports Injury Status' were among the psychological factors which had no significant effects on the performances of TOPC athletes.