A comparative Study of Some Mental Processes and Skill Performance among Players in the Iraqi Football Premier League

Abstract

Football imposes on the player a series of mental processes, starting with attention, then concentration, then focusing attention, then mental visualization... all the way to motor response to solve the motor tasks required of the player. Mental processes play a major role in the player’s motor behavior, emotions, and responses, and are among the most important factors influencing the process of learning motor skills for players. The importance of the research lies in studying and analyzing the player’s mental processes, which in turn leads to the development of skill performance during competitive matches, as they are like the state of play. The study aimed to identify the level of some mental processes and skill performance of players in the Premier League football teams for the 2023/2024 sports season. To achieve this, the study was conducted on (40) players representing two teams from Baghdad, (40) players representing two teams from southern clubs, and (40) representing two teams from northern clubs, bringing the total to (120) players. The pilot experiment was conducted on (10) players from Baghdad teams. After the experiment was completed, they were excluded from the main experiment. The researcher used the statistical package (SPSS) to process the data. Defining mental processes and their tests after presenting them to a group of experts, there is a discrepancy in the level of some mental processes and the skill performance of the Premier League players of the research sample. The most important recommendations are to focus on mental training and conducting mental process tests on a regular basis, in addition to the physical and skill preparation of junior and youth teams, as they have an impact on players in the future in Iraq.