Self-confidence, commitment and goal-setting in Czech athletes at different performance levels

Background: Numerous studies rank self-confidence, commitment and goal-setting among the foundation mental skills in athletes, conditioning the development of elite performance and also contributing to achieving first rate results during competition. Their quality is, therefore, essential for top performance. Objective: The goal of this study is a comparison of self-confidence, commitment and goal-setting in Czech athletes performing at different performance levels. The secondary aim is to compare the values gathered in Canadian and Czech populations. Methods: The Czech version of the OMSAT-3* questionnaire was distributed to 241 athletes at regional (n = 63), national (n = 115) and international levels (n = 63). Only the part of the questionnaire focusing on the selected mental skills (3 out of 12 scales) was used. Subsequently, the data were compared with the Canadian population (N = 335) used for standardization of the original questionnaire. Results: The values among Czech athletes manifest that the differences in mean values is statistically significant in all mental skills (goal-setting p = .03, self-confidence p < .01, commitment p = .03). Differences among groups dependent on the current level of performance are significantly higher in goal-setting (p = .05, d = 0.46) self-confidence (p < .01, d = 0.63), and commitment (p < .01, d = 0.55) of athletes at international level compared to regional level and in self-confidence (p < .01, d = 0.46) and commitment (p < .01, d = 0.49) of athletes at national level compared to regional level. There is no significant difference among national and international athletes. Canadian respondents show statistically significant higher mean values than Czech athletes in all selected mental skills. Conclusions: The level of self-confidence, goal-setting, and commitment in Czech athletes differs according to performance level. Czech athletes show lower values in all mental skills considered compared to the Canadian sample.