Study of Emotional Intelligence among Players of Individual, Dual and Team Sports

The objective of the study was to compare the individual sports, dual sports and team sports on Emotional Intelligence. Methodology For the purpose of the study, 26 players playing individual sport (national level swimmers, weight lifters, badminton players, tennis players, table tennis players, middle distance runners and cyclists), 18 players playing Dual sports (national level Triathletes) and 27 players playing Team sports (All India University Level Volley Ball, Basket Ball, Football, Hockey and Cricket players) male athletes were selected. The age of the athletes were ranging from 18 to 29 year of age. For the assessment of the data on Emotional Intelligence Scale for Sport Persons (EISS) 2005 by Rajitha Menon A. & Dr. Jayashree Acharya (Sports Authority of India Bangalore) was used to assess the Emotional Intelligence level of the athletes. Descriptive statistics was used to find out the mental toughness level of the selected athletes and to examine the significance differences among the athletes of different sports on mental toughness One Way ANOVA was used and the hypothesis was tested at.05 levels of significance. Results The mean and standard deviation of the factors of Emotional Intelligence Scale for student without sports, physical education and students with sports are Self Awareness (22.96 3.30), (24.67 2.33) and (22.85 3.86), Self Regulation (18.92 3.50), (22.33 4.30) and (22.04 4.86), Motivation (19.50 4.37), (24.33 3.18) and (22.56 3.98), Empathy (22.58 4.08), (21.44 4.36) and (22.81 3.78), Social Skill (19.96 3.74), (23.94 3.39) and (21.22 4.02) and Total Emotional Intelligence Score (103.92 12.43), (116.72 10.42) and (111.48 13.16) respectively. To compare the Emotional Intelligence of the selected sports athletes, the one way analysis of variance was applied. The ANOVA result shows that the p-value of the factors of the Emotional Intelligence of the selected athletes is less than 0.05 and hence the F - value is significant at 5 % level. In order to determine which groups differs significantly, the post hoc mean comparison was obtained by applying LSD Test. The Post hoc Comparison of Means was applying by using LSD Test and the results shows that there exists a significant difference in the factors of Emotional Intelligence in between Individual and Dual (p =.011) and Individual and Team (p =.010) in Self Regulation, Individual and Dual (p =.000) and Individual and Team (p =.006) in Motivation, Individual and Dual (p =.001) and Dual and Team (p =.020) in Social Skill and Individual and Dual (p =.001) and Individual and Team (p =.028) in Total Emotional Intelligence Score respectively as their obtained pvalues were less than 0.05 (p.05). This implies that in spite of similarities in nature of events there exist differences, or there are special requirements for participation in these sports. The existence of similarities in between these groups is prevalent in Individual and Dual (p =.099) Individual and Team (p =.905) and Dual and Team (p =.077) in self awareness, Dual and Team (p =.820) in self regulation, Dual and Team (p =.144) in motivation, Individual and Dual (p =.364) Individual and Team (p =.831) and Dual and Team (p =.269) in empathy, Individual and Team (p =.227) in social skill and Dual and Team (p =.164) in Total Emotional Intelligence Score respectively as their obtained p-values were greater than.05 (p.05). Conclusion Additional research is needed to find out the real reason of similarities and difference exists in the present study to fulfill the gap between theoretical research and practice is to be bridged.