Emotional intelligence and psychological skills application among female field-hockey players

Emotional intelligence is often associated with higher psychological functioning, leading to an increase in the awareness of psychological skills application in sports. We examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological skills application among a sample of senior-level South African female field-hockey players (n = 60). Participants completed the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) and the Psychological Skills Inventory (PSI). We utilised bivariate correlations to assess the relationship between variables and linear regression to predict players’ level of psychological skills application from emotional intelligence scores. Results indicated several significant correlations between the dimensions of emotional intelligence and players’ psychological skills. Further, emotional intelligence seems to be a significant predictor of mental rehearsal and total psychological skill scores. Emotional intelligence appears to be a potential facilitator of psychological skills application in high level field-hockey participation and performance.