Balykina- Milushkina T.V. - psychologist, engineer of the scientific-organizational management оf the Russian State University of  Physical Culture, a member of the OSCE AMG in Boxing 2012. The applicant - the applicant for the Department of theory and methodology of applied sports and extreme activities;
Khromov N.D. - Сandidate of Pedagogical Sciences, the Merited Coach of the Russian Federation, Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation, the Chief Coach of Men's Main Boxing Team for the Olympics 2012.
Balykin A.I. - engineer of the scientific-organizational management of the Russian State University of Physical Culture, a member of the OSCE AMG in Boxing 2012

Key words: individuality,  personality,  athlete’s  potential, high achievement sport, subject of activity, self-realization, Boxing, personality profile MMPI.

Relevance. The study of the individuality of athlete's personality being realized at international competitions as a subject of sports activity is undoubtedly among the most acute research issues in elite sport. Activity in elite sport is focused on the athlete's ultimate individual development in high results at competitions. Modern elite boxing is at the very high level of development and boxer should be not only fit, but possess individual mental qualities to be successful in his performance at international competitions [1, 2, 3, 5].

Personality, individuality, individual personality traits, emotional sphere, type of interpersonal behavior, strength and motivational orientation - all these are the understudied issues in elite sport and boxing is not the exclusion. The present high sports requirements to athlete's personality make scientists search for characteristics of athlete's personality in certain sports, which are responsible for obtaining record results [4, 7]. The study of the personality traits of boxers as subjects of activity can reveal the answers to the questions crucial for athletes’ qualification for national teams as well as for efficient planning of training and competitive processes, intended to maximize the revelation of the boxer’s potential. 

Hence, the purpose of the study was to investigate the individuality of boxer's personality, realizing his potential in high sports results at international competitions.

Materials and methods. The methods involved were as follows: observation, interview, modified Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MMPI [6], Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory by Spielberger.

20 qualified Merited Masters of Sports, Masters of Sport of International grade and Masters of Sport, members of the Russian national boxing team, were the subjects of the study. 7 of them got the license for the London Olympics, where they won one gold and three bronze medals. The research was made by the members of the complex research group in a sports centre during training sessions in the towns of Chekhov and Lobnya in the period from January 2012 till September 2012 before the London Olympics. The training sessions were guided by head coach of the man's main boxing national team of Russia N.A. Khromov.

The modified Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory was applied to get the all-round image of the structural components of athletes’ personality, made of 10 basic scales, showing the intensity of the following indicators: 1) overcontrol, 2) pessimism, 3) emotional lability, 4) impulsiveness, 5) masculinity - femininity, 6) rigidity, 7) anxiety, 8) individualization, 9) optimism, 10) social introversion. In this work the full version of the modified Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory was used, including 566 issues-statements. The results were processed using the automated program “Psychological Automated Expert System» (PAES) of the developer L.N. Sobchik. The results of the research were presented in the form of the comparative analysis of the generalized profile of the structural components of the boxer’s personality (a member of the boxing team), made of ten indicators and individual profiles of the boxers who had won medals at the Olympics. For ethical reasons the profiles of these athletes are presented as profiles of “athlete 1, 2, 3 and 4” (Fig).

Fig.  The comparative analysis of the individual personality profiles of the winners of the London Olympics and the mean group profile of an athlete who failed the competitions.

These scales should be considered in detail as these very scales reveal the individual personality, having the nature of regular displaying of behavioral characteristics of athletes of the sport under study. Proceeding from the analysis of the basic scales of the modified Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (0-9), obtained based on average individual indicators of members of the national team, all the indicators are within the standard distribution ranging from 30 to 70 Т-points. However, the situation of the boxers who have realized their potential at the Olympics is somewhat different: three have the indicators beyond the limits in the 4^th and the 9^th scales, according to this methodology. According to Figure, the indicators of the boxer – member of the national team, who has failed at the international competition, differ from those in four athletes, who have won medals in London in four scales:  2, 3, 7 and 9. Here is the interpretation of the findings.

The Scale 2 reveals pessimism and anxiety. The average index on this scale is 64 for the member of the national team and 46, 50, 52, 55 for the medalists. Higher indices stipulate for prevailing passive personal attitude, avoiding failure, dissatisfaction and pessimism in assessment of personal prospects, some passivity in decision-making, lack of self-confidence. They manifest dependent behavior in respect to an authoritative person for a given individual. The revealed tendency to avoid failures results in the risk of stop-reactions in stressful situations, i.e. blocking of activity and dependant behavior, dependence on a leading personality. Fights at international competitions, and especially Olympic games, are not just stressful, but extreme situations. And, surely, the independence of athletes 1, 2, 3 and 4 from leaders, their quick decision-making in fights and active position gave them a crucial advantage and boosted their performance.

Scale 3 defines emotional lability. High indices reflect high sensitivity to environmental impacts and instability of emotional state. There is also observed a conflict combination of divergent trends: the high level of claims is combined with the need to be involved in group interests; selfishness with altruistic declarations; aggressiveness with the desire to please others. This indicator is overvalued among the members of the national team, provoking unstable self-appraisal, sufficiently influenced by the influential environment, overestimate of personal capacities, tendency to self-indulgence and strive to offset the conflict.

Scale 4 “impulsivity” reveals active personal attitude, high search activity, self-confidence and prompt decision-making, spontaneity, risk appetite, high level of aspiration. The state of emotional affect is characterized by prevailing polar emotions, such as anger and admiration, pride and contempt. According to our findings, the index is 59 for a member of the combined team and 67,68,69 and 73 for athletes 1, 2 ,3 and 4. It means that higher activity stipulates for stronger motivation to achievement, the boxer is more emotionally driven and spontaneous in his decision-making. This tendency must be a bit beyond the standards for such a sport as elite boxing in realization of athlete’s potential as a subject of activity.

9 scale - optimism - reflects personal attitude, vitality, positive self-appraisal, self-confidence, high motor mobility orientation and high motivation to achievement. Athletes of this behavioral type perceive with joy the world around them, their life and themselves, hope for the best and confident in their future. They easily become the “soul of a party”, adapt well to changes and have no difficulties in restructuring life stereotypes. However, when opposed, they can easily produce an anger-prone reaction which easily flares up and easily dissipates. A member of the national team has an average indicator of 60 while the medalists’ indicators reach 75.

We obtained interesting results in the analysis of the differences in the athletes’ emotional sphere while investigating boxers’ individuality using the Bass-Darky method to identify the level of aggression and the Spilberger method to study anxiety, (Table).

Table. Individual characteristics of the boxers’ emotional sphere.

The detected within the empirical study unique differences of athletes in mental characteristics, such as pessimism, emotional lability, impulsion, individuality and aggression, will provide for better understanding of the role of the factor of psychological individuality of athletes' personality. The use by trainers of the knowledge of athletes' individual characteristics in training and competitive processes will facilitate activation of boxers' actions both in attack and defence, which will improve their performance and self-actualization in the quoted sport.

Conclusions:

1. The findings of our research indicate to the special individual psychological profile of boxers which will provide for realization of their personal potential at competitions.
2. The individuality of the boxer who self-actualizes at international competitions is characterized by the following components: high level of ambition and motivation to achieve result; non-recognition of authorities and independent personal attitude; high level of optimism; self-confidence; active personal attitude; ability to make prompt decisions; high self-esteem; spontaneity and risk appetite; ability to quickly modulate emotions and change from one emotional state to another, i.e. from joy to aggression.
3. The individual indicators of boxers include pessimism, emotional labiality, impulsiveness, individualization and aggression - may be interpreted as boxer’s individual personal qualities. Only different levels of their manifestation enable due performance at international competitions. Therefore these individual personal qualities may be taken as psychological model characteristics for qualification in elite sport.

References

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2. Nikiforov, Yu.B. Psychological tuning of boxers / Y.B. Nikiforov // Boxing: Yearbook. – Moscow: Fizkultura i sport, 1986. – P. 21–24. (In Russian)
3. Platonov, V.N. General theory of training of Olympic athletes / V.N. Platonov. – Kiev: Olimpiyskaya literatura, 1997. – 583 P. (In Russian)
4. Rubinstein, S.L. The basics of general psychology / S.L. Rubinstein. – Moscow: Prosveschenie, 1946. – 704 P. (In Russian)
5. Savchenko, V.G. The basics of modern boxing psychology: study guide / V.G. Savchenko. – Dnepropetrovsk, 1996. – 141 P. (In Russian)
6. Sobchik, L.N. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) / L.N. Sobchik. – St.Petersburg: Rech, 2000. – 219 P. (In Russian)
7. Sobchik, L.N. Psychology of selfhood. Theory and practice of psychodiagnostics / L.N. Sobchik. – St.Petersburg: Rech, 2005. – 28 P. (In Russian)

Author’s contacts: b2000t@yandex.ru