The effect of psychological and moral exercises in reducing psychological stress among young football players

Abstract

The problem of the research lies in the fact that the researchers are trainers working with age groups in sports clubs for the youth category, that employing exercises based on the psychological and moral aspect as a field application to reduce psychological stress among young players, considering these exercises an indicator of improving the application of performance on the field, and the player can be judged that he has achieved mental stability in performance through them. The aim of the research is to identify the effect of psychological and moral exercises to reduce psychological stress among young football players. The researchers used the experimental method in the style of the control and experimental groups to suit the research problem. The research community consisted of Al-Qassim Youth Club players for the football season (2024-2025), numbering (35) players registered in the records of Al-Qassim Sports Club youth participating in the Youth League for Professional Clubs for the year (2024-2025). The research sample was selected randomly and consisted of 20 players (10) players for the control group and (10) players for the experimental group, and they constituted a percentage of (57%) of the original community.  The field experiment (pre-test) was conducted during the training of the youth of Al-Qassim Sports Club before starting to compete in the Professional Clubs Championship for the Youth League on 20/2/2024. The researchers distributed the questionnaire form for the psychological stress level scale to the players. The duration of applying the psychological and moral exercises was (8) weeks at a rate of two units per week in addition to their prepared program. The time for applying the exercises in the unit was (20-30) minutes. The number of training units became (16) training units for the control group according to the prepared coach's program. The post-test was conducted on 20/4/2024 at four o'clock on the Al-Qassim Sports Club stadium. All devices and tools were used under the same conditions as in the pre-test. The most important conclusions were that the psychological and moral exercises (self-relaxation - imaginary - and successive) had a clear effect in reducing the degree of psychological stress, and that the psychological and moral exercises, focusing attention - mental visualization, had a clear effect in reducing the degree of psychological stress.