Effect of biofeedback and relaxation training on state-competitive anxiety among football players

During the tournament the control of player’s anxiety is one of the success factors of teams. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of biofeedback and relaxation training on state-competitive anxiety among football players. This research was done in quasi experimental and pre- posttest with available sampling. In this research 18 university soccer players between the ranges of 19 to 26 years participated. Subjects were divided randomly in three groups of biofeedback heart rate changing، relaxation training and combination of the two methods (n=6 per group). Prior and later training the «Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 “was completed by sample and results were analyzed using SPSS/20. It was shown that there was significant decrease in cognitive anxiety and there was an important rise in somatic anxiety among all three groups. Also there was a compelling difference between relaxation and mixed group، however there was no significant difference in cognitive and somatic anxiety among groups. The three methods reduced the cognitive anxiety and the self-confidence and increased the physical anxiety. Future research could focus on longer training sessions (more than 7 sessions).