Vol. 2, Issue 4, Part E (2016)

Abstract
During the last few decades, coaches and athletes from a wide variety of sports have begun to realize the importance of the mental side of athletic performance. More specifically, individuals involved with organized sport now understand that for athletes to perform at their peak level of efficiency, they must possess and use a number of psychological skills. The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychological skills of Ethiopian athletes and explore whether there is significant difference across athletes in different running events; i.e., between short, middle and long distance runners. A total of 62 male athletes participated in the study. Among them (n=19) were short distance runners, (n=22) were middle distance runners and (n=21) long distance runners. Psychological variables were assessed for each athlete by using the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (ACSI-28; Smith, et al., 1995). The ACSI-28 is a self-report questionnaire developed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Mean and standard deviations of the seven subscales of psychological skills of athletes described according to running event category. The mean differences in psychological skills between short, middle and long distance runners were determined by using one way ANOVA. Data was analyzed by Statistical package for scientific solution (SPSS version 20.0 for windows). The level of statistical significance was set at 0.05 level. It was found that, long distance runners have significantly greater strength in the psychological skills than short and middle distance runners. And middle distance runners on the other hand, significantly found to be greater than short distance runners. Ethiopian runners, regardless the event, have greater strength in their psychological skills compared to the norm.