Field Hockey Skill Tests Construction and Validation on Female Hockey Players

Hockey is a team-game in which the different players have to perform the different types of skills to overcome the opponent, each members of team have to perform best, to achieve success. In any sports discipline assessment of player can be done by subjective or objective means. Skill tests of relevant sports discipline helps in the objective assessment of the player. Sports skill tests are designed to measure the basic skills used in the playing of a specific sport. The degree of perfection of sport skills obviously varies significantly with the level and gender of the players. The mastery of the fundamental skills in any game results in the high level performance. Norms are necessary if the test scores are to be adequately interpreted. The type of test is selected depending upon the purpose of the test and characteristics of the group to be tested.” The aim of the present study was to construct and standardize the fundamental skill tests for the game of field hockey which contribute towards performance of the players. The objectives of the study measures the selected skills and performance and further establishing validity, reliability and objectivity the selected skill. Also the percentile norms and Hull scale for selected skill tests was constructed for field hockey female players. The study is delimited to 5 skills hitting, pushing, dribbling, passing and stopping, also female hockey players of inter-college level age ranged between 17 to 25 years with average age of 21years were selected. The data collected were subjected to various statistical analysis. Product Moment Correlation was used to find out inter – relationship among all the skill test items, Factor Analysis was applied in which, significant factors responsible for variance and dominant were extracted through Principal Component Analysis, The reliability of the filtered skill test items was computed by test retest method and Finally norms were developed using percentiles and Hull Scale. “The result reveals that there was inter-relationship between the performances of selected test items. The knowledge evolved in this study is directly helpful to coaches, trainers, trainees and teachers of Hockey and also selection committee of Field Hockey at different levels. This contribution will enrich the overall game performance in Indian Field Hockey. Keywords: Field Hockey, Norms, Performance, Skills DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/58-02 Publication date:August 31st 202

Why Delhi Women Hockey is in Pathetic Condition?

Even though many ancient civilization played hockey in different variations, the modern game of field Hockey evolved in the British in the Ninth Century. Hockey was introduced in India by British Army regiments and the game soon found favor among native Indians. The first hockey club in India came up in Calcutta in 1885-86 and soon Bombay and Punjab followed suit. Making its Olympic debut at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, Indian Hockey team cruised home to its first Olympic gold without conceding a single goal. The hallmark of this ruthless domination was the wizardry of Indian Hockey legend Dhyan Chand who mesmerized the Amsterdam crowd with his dazzling skills. Viewing on the status of women in sports historical evidences proves that women have been involved in sports since fourth century B.C. The fight for Women Hockey players to earn respect and acceptance have been hard fought over the past one hundred years. The road of women Hockey has had many ups and down’s but has preserved to the present day and is stronger than it has ever been.  The future of women hockey is bright thanks to diligence and hard work of those who kept it all going. Women in India have also been taken up Hockey along men. Though the women Hockey in India are coming up from all parts of country but it is lacking in northern region of the country especially in Delhi. Delhi’s poor performance at National level from last ten years is a cause of serious concern for all of us. Therefore, this study has attempted to find out the various reasons and remedies for the poor performance of the Delhi Women Hockey at various levels (Inter-University, Nationals etc). For the purpose of the study 80 Hockey players those who have played for Delhi at various levels were selected as the subjects. The age of the subjects was from 17 years and above. An opinionnair was constructed for the selected Delhi Women Hockey Players and a structured interview was administered on 10% of the total population of administration and coaches from the Delhi Women Hockey Association. The responses were collected and data was analyzed by computing through percentage method and item analysis.  It was found that 91.4% of the colleges have specialized hockey players and only 53.75% of the colleges have more than fifteen specialized players who practice regularly as a team. Further it was analyzed that 98.72% of the respondents feel that role of the coach is important to determine the performance and 50% of the respondents feel that coaches are not giving sufficient time to develop physical parameter and psychological preparation which are prerequisite for good performance. Using facilities to its optimum level may be difficult for players as 40% of the respondents say that stadium is more than 15 km away from their residence also it lacks in providing well qualified coaches for women team. The training camps for high level competitions are not of sufficient duration and lacks in psychological training program. Dissatisfaction among players was reported towards sufficient government support. After the analysis and discussion of findings, it was suggested to provide sufficient facilities like Astroturf, proper diet and nutrition, other type of motivation and incentives to develop and improve the performance of Delhi Women Hockey players

A Comparative Study on Selective Psychological Variables among the Team Game and Individual Game Athletes

There are certain moments during competition that appear to carry great psychological significance, when the momentum starts to shift in one direction or another. These situations require athletes to remain completely focused and calm in the face of difficult circumstances. In concept mental toughness and anxiety play most important role in competition and these are most important part of competition. The purpose of the study was to compare psychological differences between team game players & individual game players. The data was collected on psychological parameter namely Mental toughness (self confidence, motivation, attention control, goal setting, visual & imaginary, attitude control). For the purpose of this study a total of 80 players who have played at the inter college level of University of Delhi categorized as Team Game and Individual Game (40 in each continuum). The data pertaining to psychological difference was collected by administering the Mental Toughness Questionnaire for measuring mental toughness along with the sub variables, self confidence, motivation, attention control, goal setting, visual & imaginary, attitude control. Psychological variables and sub-variables were analyzed statistically by using Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and two-way ANOVA. Within the limitations of the study it was found that there was No significance difference was found in the variables of Mental Toughness between Team and Individual Games. Keywords: Mental Toughness, Team Game, Individual Game

Development and Challenges in Sports: A Case Study of the Indian Cricket

Cricket is the most popular game at present not in only in India but also in the Indian Subcontinent. The controversies and the ups and downs of the willow game have been the subject of discussion by the cricket chroniclers and the lovers of the game in times gone by. The present study aims at examining the level of motivation among players, nature and role of cooperation from academic institutions such as the college or the university, from the family, need for a different academic course structure for players and fairness in the selection process. Using the information through a sample of 320 student cricketers, the role of the University of Delhi in nurturing the talent and producing some outstanding cricketers of national and international levels has been probed. Absence of trainers along with commensurate infrastructure seems to be the bane in developing top cricketers in the Colleges and the Universities. Forced to give major part of their time to the sport, it is tough for the sportspersons to focus on academics. Continuous training and travel with consequent missed classes makes it tough to secure good credits in class attendance and internal assessment which results in adverse performance in semester examinations. The sports centric curriculum and sufficient credit for performance in sports with adequate, flexible teaching schedules, improved training and sports infrastructure in colleges and the universities in India can only raise the standard of cricket and other sports. Keywords: Teaching schedule, Sports infrastructure, internal assessmen