Sport confidence and its role in sports performance

The main goal of the thesis is to build upon the existing research literature and to explore the relationship of sport confidence and sports performance, among which a positive correlation is often found. The theoretical part summarizes the present findings regarding this connection, as well as how sport confidence generally works, what constructs it relates to, or how it is measured. In the empirical part, quantitative research on a sample of Sri Lankan swimmers between 17 and 19, executed using the Sport-Confidence Inventory (SCI; Vealey, Knight, 2002), is then presented. Its results showed that participants scoring high at least in one of the three SCI subscales were performing better, regardless of how well the other components were developed, as opposed to participants whose scores were moderate in all the three subscales. The results also pointed to significant differences between the genders, where it showed that men generally scored higher on the level of sport confidence. Series of recommendations for trainers and psychologists working with athletes, but also for potential follow-up studies, can be drawn from the outcomes. Keywords: sport-confidence, multidimensionality of confidence, performance prediction, competitive swimming, SC