Psychological Courage and Its Relationship to the Performance of Selected Basic Skills in Fencing

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to identify the level of psychological courage and the level of selected basic skills under investigation, as well as to determine the correlation between psychological courage and some basic fencing skills among third-year students in the College of Physical Education and Sports Sciences / University of Tikrit.

The researchers adopted the descriptive method with a survey approach and correlational design, as it is suitable for the nature of the research problem. The research population consisted of third-year morning-study students for the academic year 2024–2025 in the College of Physical Education and Sports Sciences / University of Tikrit, totaling 30 students. Four students from outside the research sample were selected for the pilot study.

The researchers used the Psychological Courage Scale and expert evaluation to assess the performance of the selected basic skills under investigation. After obtaining the data and processing it statistically using the SPSS statistical package, several conclusions were reached. Among them: the research sample possessed a good level of psychological courage, as well as a good level of certain basic skills; and there was a significant correlation between psychological courage and the basic skills under study.

The researchers recommended conducting studies similar to the current one on different age groups and sports activities, as well as emphasizing the importance of the psychological aspect and encouraging positive emotions associated with sports activity, including psychological courage.