M.A. Thesis:

comparing the mental skills of volleyball players in sabzevar schools based on the skill level and perception of success.

Gaining success and success in most sports, including volleyball, depends on a number of factors such as physical fitness, technique, tactics, and mental fitness. The purpose of this study was to compare the mental skills (basic, psychological and cognitive) of beginner and skilled volleyball players (in terms of coaches) and successful and less successful volleyball players (in terms of athletes), and also the relationship between basic mental skills, psychosocial And cognition with the perception of the success of volleyball players in Sabzevar schools. The method of this study was descriptive and of causal comparison and correlation in which mental skills of athletes based on their skill level and their perceptions of success were compared. The statistical population consisted of all volleyball boys of Sabzevar schools with a range of age from 12 to 18 years old. A sample of 100 students was volunteers. The Ottawa 3 Skills Skills Questionnaire and the Perception of Roberts & Thrasher (1998) success stories were used in this research. To analyze the data in the descriptive section, the mean and standard deviation were used and for the inferential part, multivariate analysis of variance and Pearson correlation coefficient were used with SPSS software at the level of p?0.05. The results of the study showed that there is a significant statistical difference between the skilled and successful volleyball players between basic, psychological and cognitive skills of beginner and skilled, successful and less successful volleyball players. There is also a significant relationship between the basic and cognitive skills of volleyball players with their perception of their success (p?0.05). But there is no significant relationship between psychosocial skills and perception of the success of volleyball players in Sabzevar schools (p?0.05). Findings indicated a significant superiority of the basic, psychoanalytic and cognitive skills of skilled and successful volleyball players towards beginner and less successful volleyball players. Considering the significant relationship between mental skills and perceived success of athletes, this superiority can be considered as one of the main factors in the efficient performance of skilled and successful volleyball players in relation to beginner and less successful volleyball players. Accordingly, it is suggested to educators to identify mental skills involved in the optimal performance of skilled volleyball players and succeed in designing mental exercises for beginners and less successful

Keywords: Basic mental skills, psychological, cognitive, perception of success