1. Introduction
Consider how frequently a soccer coach, player, or fan has expressed the desire for their teams to be more courageous or assertive, especially during competitive performance. However, the relationship between sport courage and key performance variables is still unknown in most sports, including for female soccer [
1]. The Multidimensional Courage Model is a model that has attempted to expand our understanding on sports courage and its association with key performance variables [
2].
In the Model of Multidimensional Courage, Konter [
2] defined sport courage as “a natural and developed, interactional and perceptual concept between person and situation, and the task at hand that enables person to move in mastery (self-confidence), determination, assertiveness, venturesome (coping with fear), and altruistic (self-sacrificed) behaviour on a voluntary basis in dangerous or difficult circumstances” (p. 966).
Multidimensional Interactional Sport Courage Models were suggested (Model 1 and Model 2) [
2]. “Model-1” has six related parts from micro/particular to the macro/general levels. All the levels and parts in the Model-1 are related to one other. Firstly, the general model of sport courage (see Figure 1 in Konter [
2]) includes different and related categories of courage, for example: personality traits, epistemological categories of courage, evolutionary and developmental processes of courage, social psychological dimension of courage, and interacting personal (age, gender, experience, achievement motivation, concentration, etc.) and situational factors (danger, risk, difficulty and fear at present) of courage. Model-2 illustrates the interactional nature of sport courage including the main factors, such as: type of sport, skill and task at hand, personal factors, situational factors and perception of the individual athlete. Model-1 can be used as a general model of understanding sport courage. Model-2 predicts the sport courage more specifically and interactionally. Researchers can concentrate on more specific models of sport courage from the proposed models [
2].
To help guide future research, Konter and Beckman [
1] reviewed the courage research in soccer and concluded that courage is frequently regarded as a significant factor in sport performance. They approached sport courage from a self-regulation standpoint, indicating that courage in soccer should enable players to take initiative and persist in goal pursuit despite the risk.
The Multidimensional Courage Model has influenced the increase in sport courage research in recent years. Konter’s [
3] research comparing male and female adolescent students found four significant findings regarding sports courage. These included the following: (1) males have significantly higher points of mastery, determination, assertiveness, venturesome, and total sport courage (i.e., total SCS-31 scores) than females; (2) female sport participants who participate at least three times a week before the age of ten have significantly more points of determination and assertiveness than male and female non-sport participants; (3) male and female school team participants have significantly more points of sacrifice behaviours than males and females from non-school team participants; (4) males and females with very high levels of success perception in the motor domain (including physical education and sports) have significantly higher mastery, determination, assertiveness, venturesomeness, sacrifice behaviour, and total sport courage than males and females with good to low levels of success perception in the motor domain.
There is a lack of literature demonstrating the Multidimensional Courage Model can help to better understand an individual’s level of sport courage and various performance characteristics. As such, if one wishes to understand the relationship between sport courage and female soccer performance variables, it would be appropriate to investigate the concept of sport courage in this manner within female soccer.
Psychosocial factors could have influence on female soccer performance. The global expansion of female soccer has resulted in an increase in scholarly attention to psychosocial factors affecting performance and career development in female soccer; however, female soccer players are still disproportionately underrepresented in soccer psychology research [
4]. Two qualitative studies [
5,
6] sought to advance this field of study by identifying psychosocial factors such as self-regulation, volitional behaviours, and relationships with peers, parents, and coaches as affecting female soccer players’ performance and career progression. Despite this understanding, these qualitative studies focus exclusively on female soccer in the United Kingdom (UK). As a result, findings may not be applicable outside of female soccer in the UK, and additional research into the psychosocial factors influencing female soccer performance is warranted. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that this UK study did not include sport courage as a variable. This may seem surprising, given the anecdotal and empirical evidence that sport courage is a desirable performance characteristic in athletes, e.g., [
1,
7,
8]. This is indicative of a broader dearth of empirical evidence in female soccer examining the relationship between sport courage and performance variables [
1,
2,
9]. Therefore, if we wish to promote sport courage as a desirable psychosocial characteristic among female soccer players, we must first investigate its relationship to various performance variables.
In summary, the study’s rationale is predicated on four key elements: (1) acknowledging the dearth of research into the psychology of female soccer [
4]; (2) recognize risks that may be unique to female soccer players (e.g., increased injury risk; slower career progression). For instance, women had higher rates of ankle sprains, and more serious injuries of anterior cruciate ligament then men did [
10], (3) a lack of understanding of the relationship between courage and performance variables in female soccer [
1]; and (4) promote sport courage as a desirable psychosocial characteristic [
1,
7]. Informed by these four factors, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between female soccer players’ sport courage and performance variables (level of participation, national team participation, injury history, and team selection). By pursuing this purpose, we will be able to generate new knowledge about sport courage that can be used to inform both practical and theoretical recommendations, as well as contribute to the increased representation of female soccer players in soccer psychology research.
4. Discussion
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between measures of sport courage and performance variables in female soccer players. The results indicated that assertiveness, sacrifice behaviour, mastery, determination and total sport courage levels increased with age among female soccer players. Higher venturesomeness levels may play a significant role in the presence of injuries requiring a week or more in female soccer; higher mastery levels are associated with fewer injuries requiring a week or more in female soccer; and higher mastery levels are associated with being selected to start more frequently. These findings may provide potentially valuable information for stakeholders (e.g., players, coaches, sports medicine staffs, and sport psychologist practitioners) regarding the relative value of various indices of sport courage, their effect on playing level, and an understanding of their role in clinically meaningful injury risk reduction for injuries requiring one week or more of time-loss.
The discussion is divided into subsections on age, level of soccer participation, injury history, national team participation, and being a starter or substitute in relation to sports courage.
4.1. Sports Courage and Age
The findings indicate that: (1) mastery, determination, assertiveness, sacrifice behaviour, and the total sport courage all have significant low positive correlations with age. Spearman correlation coefficients range from 0.182 to 0.325. This finding corroborates Konter’s [
12] preliminary research findings. In female soccer, it appears that courage factors increase with age from 12 to 27 (M = 17.97 ± 3.34 years old). This could be due to the experience and the skill level increase with age, not the reverse. Additional research may be necessary to control for experience and skill level in order to obtain more conclusive results regarding the relationship between SCS-31 and age, as age increases with experience and skill level.
4.2. Sports Courage and Soccer Level of Participation
The results indicated that mastery, determination, assertiveness, sacrifice behaviour, and the total sport courage all decreased as the level of female soccer participation increased from amateur to professional. To a point, amateur female players have a higher assertiveness, a higher sacrifice behaviour, and a higher Total sport courage than professional female players. Professionalism in female soccer may entail developing more skills and playing safely, avoiding injury, and sticking to the tactics and performance roles rather than taking risks by being more assertiveness and exhibiting sacrifice behaviour. According to Konter [
13], non-professional female soccer players had more sacrifice behaviour points than professional female soccer players. Additionally, Konter [
14] discovered comparable findings regarding sacrifice behaviour in male soccer. Additional research is required to reach more convincing conclusions.
4.3. Sports Courage and Injury History
Venturesomeness (
p = 0.006) was associated with an increased risk of sustaining an injury lasting more than one week, whereas mastery (
p = 0.017) was associated with a lower risk of injury. Konter [
15] demonstrated that athletes without a history of bone fracture have a significantly higher point of mastery than athletes with a history of bone fracture. However, the results with determination, assertiveness, venturesome, and total sport courage are inverted (participants’ mean age was 15.20 ± 1.56 years old; 118 males, 99 females). In addition, Konter [
16] discovered that athletes with a history of broken bones had higher mastery, determination, assertiveness, venturesome, and total sport courage scores than athletes without a history of broken bones (participants’ mean age was 21.50 ± 2.31 years old; 56 males, 117 female). In general, it appears to corroborate findings concerning SCS-31 and injury history. Different outcomes could be attributed to different participants, including males and athletes from various sports. Nonetheless, the presence of mastery may reduce the likelihood of a female soccer player becoming injured; however, the presence of determination, venturesome, and sacrifice behaviour may result in increased injury. Although courage is necessary for soccer performance, it may also result in increased injury risk and prevent the female player from participating in soccer. Based on these findings, practitioners may find it beneficial to assess sport courage in female soccer players in order to assess the risk of injury. Understanding sacrifice behaviour levels in particular may enable targeted intervention by improving their courageous to reduce the risk of injury in female athletes.
The results of this section are constrained by the use of a single self-reported injury involving a week or greater time-loss. This was chosen for participant convenience, to minimise the risk of recall bias affecting the accuracy of the data collected, and because the majority of fixture schedules is weekly. Thus, understanding injuries that result in a week or more of lost time enables an assessment of the minimal impact that sport courage may have on player availability due to injury risk. This is significant because research from men’s professional soccer indicates that increased player availability correlates with improved performance outcomes in soccer [
17,
18]. Simply put, having a larger pool of players increases the chances of winning more games and competitions.
4.4. Sports Courage and National Team Participation
Descriptive statistic revealed that selected national female soccer players had higher mastery (mean rank: 117.84 vs. 101.22) and assertiveness (mean rank: 120.28 vs. 100.63) points than non-selected national female soccer players. Although the difference was not statistically significant and effect size was small, it is worth noting that this courage has important implications for athletes. Courage related to mastery and assertiveness appears to be critical for national team selection [
19]. Female soccer players should be given more opportunities to improve their mastery and assertiveness in order to advance in their careers. They may require additional patience, practice sessions focused on mastery and assertiveness, successful outcomes, vicarious experiences, modelling, verbal preservations and encouragements [
20,
21], arousal management and self-regulation techniques, and psychological skills training [
22], depending on their specific needs [
1]. Additional research is necessary to draw firmer conclusions about courage, national team selection, and participation in female soccer at various levels.
4.5. Sports Courage and Being a Starter or Substitute
Female soccer players who start had significantly more mastery points than female soccer players who was substituted (
p = 0.002). According to research, mastery’s relationship with self-confidence is critical to performance and psychological abilities [
1,
20,
21,
23,
24].
4.6. Strengths, Weaknesses, and Future Directions for Research
This is the first study of its kind that examines the relationship between sport courage and various performance variables in female soccer. As such, it has generated new knowledge and responded to calls to advance the body of work on female soccer psychology. Notably, we discovered that sport courage indices are associated with an increased risk of injury in female Turkish soccer players. Thus, we recommend that coaches instill higher levels of sport courage in their soccer players in order to reduce the risk of injury in sports. This study was exploratory, retrospective, and cross-sectional in nature. As such, we have framed our assumptions and findings in terms of correlations and associations, rather than inferring causality. Prospective, longitudinal, multi-wave data collection and prospective tracking of players’ performance would bolster our claims. We acknowledge several limitations in the study such as small effect size on the differences on courage’s subscales between comparison groups. Moreover, sample size was also small for professional soccer players and possible confounding factors were not considered in the study. Thus, future research should include more professional players and identify possible confounding variables for sport courage. Future research may also benefit from examining interventions with female soccer players aimed at developing potentially more facilitative dimensions of sport courage, such as mastery, while also assisting athletes in modulating other dimensions of sport courage, such as venturesome and sacrifice behaviour, that may have a more detrimental effect on specific performance aspects. In their narrative review, Milanović and colleagues explained that better understanding of physiological and physical demands of female soccer would lead to better criteria for future players development and success [
25]. Hence, association between courage and injury risk factors based on physical or physiological variables are also suggested for future investigation.