Effect of Playing Venue on Pre-Competition Cortisol Level and Competitive State Anxiety in University Basketball Players

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of playing venue for pre-competition cortisol and state anxiety in university male basketball players. Ninety six players from public and private universities of Lahore have evaluated during eight competitive matches played at home (n=4) and away (n=4) venues. Blood samples were collected to analyze the cortisol concentrations by the ELISA assay and state anxiety was assessed using the CSAI-2 questionnaire. All the data collection took place before the pre-match warm-up. Data was analyzed by using paired sample t test. Results showed that cortisol was significantly (p-0.002) elevated on away ground, whereas, somatic state anxiety was markedly (p-0.001) increased on an opponents home ground. In conclusion, it is suggested that playing venue affects cortisol response and anxiety score values on away ground that results in psychological interventions for players to deal with all threats and stressful stimuli of playing venue factors affecting the players performance on an opponents home ground.