Incidence of mindfulness practices, sporting trajectory and gender on mood states of future trainers

Resumen

The aim of this research was to study the effect of mindfulness techniques (MT) on mood states (MS) in men and women who may become sports coaches in the future, taking into account the characteristics of their sport of origin, sports background and gender. The study design was quasi-experimental, involving 300 first-year students of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences at the University of
Girona, Spain. An initial training on MSwas carried out, participants completed 2 TAP sessions and filled in the POMS questionnaire at the beginning and end of each session. Data were analyzed using generalized estimating equations. The most relevant results were: a) athletes coming from psychomotor sports showed an optimal iceberg profile in their MS for performance; b) in general, participants with more advanced sporting backgrounds experienced a more satisfactory affective experience than those with less advanced backgrounds; c) men coming from oppositional and psychomotor sports expressed a more positive affective experience than women. From these results, it could be concluded that high competition environments need coaches
competent not only in their sport-specific subjects, but also in the development of affective competences in order to: a) understand the effect of the motor tasks performed in training on MS; b) select training tasks appropriately so that their athletes can perform at their best in competitive situations of maximum affective experience.