English abstract
The current study aims to reveal the relationship between mental toughness and
competitive behavior of elite players in team sports of physical collision in Sultanate of
Oman. The study used a descriptive-relational approach and two metrics of mental toughness
for (James Loehr ,1986) and competitive behavior for (Dorthi Harris ,1984) and it consisted
of a sample of (69) national teams players of physical collision sports in the Sultanate of
Oman, namely: (football, handball, basketball, and hockey) and were chosen purposefully.
The study findings indicate that the level of mental toughness and competitive behavior of
the selected players is low. Additionally, there is a lack of statistically significant differences
in the study sample's estimates of mental toughness attributed to (sports type and player's age
and years of experience of the player) and lack of statistically significant differences in the
study sample's estimates of competitive behavior attributed to (sports type and player's age).
However, the results indicate that there are statistically significant differences in competitive
behavior attributed to years of experience for the less-experienced players (less than five
years of experience). The results also indicate that competitive behavior may be predicted
from the level of mental toughness.
In light of these findings, the study provides a set of recommendations, the most important
of which are giving more attention to developing elite players' mental toughness, activating
psychological guidance in all teams through the presence of a psychological counselor within
the technical and administrative staff supervising the team, and taking into account the
psychological aspects of the Omani player's career to maintain his continuity with the
national teams and keep his competitive behavior on the rise with the increase of the number
of years of experience.
Keywords: Mental toughness, competitive behavior, team sports of physical collision
