Personality Traits of Athletes in Individual and Team Sports

Understanding behaviour patterns and personality structure is essential for defining the connection between motivation level and performance potential in the field of sports. Psychologists and researchers have been trying to explore that athletes' personality traits, their individual behaviour and psychological make-up influence their performance in different sports events. It has been established that optimal level of performance depends upon three factors: Physical ability, Sports skill and Mental preparation. This book investigates how these factors have different implications in individual athletes and team sports. At the same time, it attempts to study how psychological characteristics differ among individuals and teams. It takes into account that individual performance depends more or less on mental preparations, psychology and personality of sportsmen. On the other hand, the performance in team sports depends upon cohesiveness, personal bindings, openness, agreeableness,conscientiousness and team-spirit. Hence,the need to study the psychological variables that affect the personality and influence the individual talent and collective performance.