The Application of Psychological Skills Inventory for Sports at Croatian Coaches and Recreational Table Tennis Players

The main goal of this study was to reveal the basic psychometric properties of the imported Dutch Youth Version of the Psychological Skills Inventory for Sports (PSIS–Youth), applied on Croatian samples of athletes, to establish the relationship among different psychological skills, to find the differences in psychological skills between trainers and recreational table tennis players, as well as according to the education level. Finally, we tried to predict the satisfaction with life with set of psychological skills. We have examined a total of 86 coaches of various sports in Croatia during the seminar for coaches in Croatian Olympic Academy and 86 recreational table tennis players that play in SOKAZ. The research revealed the existence of six latent dimensions of the Croatian adaptation of the PSIS–Youth (PSIS–Youth Cro). Relatively coherent set of psychological skills may reflect successful athlete. The coaches are better than table tennis players in anxiety control/ confidence, mental preparation and motivation, while recreational table tennis players are better in concentration. No statistically significant differences are found according to the education level of participants. We can successfully predict the satisfaction with life of the participants, by six psychological skills in PSIS–Youth Cro. The anxiety control/ confidence is the best and significant predictor of the satisfaction with life. PSIS–Youth Cro has to be tested on more representative samples of Croatian athletes in the future.