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Diagnosis

of

the

concentration

of

the

attention

in

sprinters of the national equipment of cycling

Abstract

The concentration of attention is a variable that affects the rapid execution of the snatch.

In practice, it has been verified that in training and competition situations, the sprinters

of the Cuban National Track Cycling Team show difficulty in breaking the inertia for the

execution of the snatch, they are impatient and eager to get out of the block of started,

leading to false starts. The objective of this study was oriented to evaluate the indices of

attention concentration in a sample of sprinters from the national preselection. Methods

and

techniques

were

used:

analytical-synthetic

and

inductive-deductive,

observation,

interview, Toulouse-Pierón cross-out test, and the Numerical Grid test to assess attention

concentration indices, triangulation of information, and descriptive statistics. The main

results allowed to verify deficiencies in the concentration of attention in the sprinters by

team,

prevailing

the

regular

category

and

poorly

with

the

highest

figures.

It

was

concluded that the difficulties manifested by the largest number of athletes affect the rapid

execution of the snatch. These results demand a psychological intervention program to

develop certain concentration characteristics.

Keywords

: attention, concentration of attention, cycling and track cycling.

Introduction

Cycling is a competitive sport that, when it takes place in structures known as velodromes,

is called track cycling. There are different modalities or tests, including team speed. In

this modality, two rival teams of 3 runners for both sexes face each other, each team will

race against the clock, a winner is achieved by the best time. They sprint without prior

impulse (start stopped) and are only allowed two starts, according to the International

Cycling Union (ICU, 2021).

It

is

worth

noting

what

is

supported

by

Pinzón

and

Mendoza

(2022)

who

point

out

professional cycling as one of the sports that most requires physical and mental condition

when practicing it since the body exercises many simultaneous activities in those who

practice it, where it is used all kinds of strength and resistance so that in this way the

athlete can constantly improve the levels of time used to practice it.

Among the most important psychological skills in high-performance sport, the attention

and

concentration

process

occupies

outstanding

relevance

as

a

variable

under

study,

influential in sports performance, being of great importance for this science, including

that of Aguirre, "et al” (2015).

There are various investigations developed in Cuba, in which those of Soler (2018) stand

out; Ocaña "et al" (2020); Del Monte (2017); Cañizares "et al" (2020); among others,

providing strategies that facilitate the optimization of the concentration of attention.

For their part, González, D. F. and González, V. R. (2021) propose a methodology for

improving artistic gymnastics coaches for the psychological preparation of athletes by

understanding

its

importance

in

sports

results.

When

an

athlete

has

a

good

physical

preparation and his technical and tactical skills are acceptable, the fact of knowing and

mastering the attentional processes facilitates the execution of the task and the probability

of sporting success increases remarkably.

According to Ponce (2018) the concentration of attention, defined as a whole as the ability

to maintain focused attention on a task or object, generating a concentrated persistence of

attention.

Corrales, "et al" (2021) states that it is a process that allows the focus of all attention on

the relevant aspects of a task to be carried out, it consists of voluntarily focusing all the

attention of the mind on an objective, object or activity that is carried out or intends to be

carried out at that moment, by leaving aside the entire series of events or other objects

that may be capable of interfering with its achievement or with its attention.

There are various studies carried out on the processes of attention in athletes, such as

Soler (2022); Ponce (2018); Cañizares "et al" (2020); particularizing the concentration of

attention, according to the characteristics of the different sports, in which they address

the

importance

that

it

acquires

for athletes to

achieve an

adequate level

of

attention,

allowing

to

analyze,

interact

and

execute

sports

actions

with

a

greater

degree

of

optimization.

One of the most relevant studies in terms of cycling is the article by Olmedilla "et al"

(2018) prepared in Spain, whose objective was to describe the psychological profiles of

two cycling sports: triathlon and road cycling. The results showed statistically significant

differences between the two groups of athletes.

Currently, the Cuban national track cycling team does not have the necessary training

conditions, the velodrome does not meet the established standards, in addition to not being

constructively in good condition. They do not have a starting block with the electronic

system

that

simultaneously

activates

the

stopwatch.

Although

they

have

a

qualified

technical group, the objectives set have not been achieved.

Taking into account the information obtained in the observations of training and controls,

in conversations held with athletes and coaches, notable difficulties are perceived to focus

attention on the snatch, which prevent them from effectively carrying out executions and

running races in the shortest time, without there being an action that contributes to the

solution of this problem. That is why this research aims to evaluate the concentration of

attention in this sports population.

Materials and methods

To fulfill the objective of the research, a mixed (quali-quantitative), descriptive, cross-

sectional study was carried out (Hernández - Sampieri, Fernández and Baptista, 2014).

Number of athletes	Sex	Average chronological age	Sport age range		Average sports age
F	M	years	years	years	years
7	4	3	18 a 21	19.5	4 a 7	5.4

The sample is of an intentional type, as inclusion criteria it was considered that they were

athletes enrolled in the Giraldo Córdova Cardín training school for high-performance

athletes in the 2021-2022 academic year and that they were part of the Cuban National

Track

Cycling

Team;

that

also

presented

the

problematic

situation,

the

following

techniques and instruments were used:

Observation

to

verify

the

presence

of

difficulties

in

relation

to

the

concentration

of

attention in the snatch both in training and in competition. For this, an observation guide

was

prepared

(technical-tactical,

physical

and

psychological

elements),

which

was

applied from the beginning of the special preparation stage until the end of the stage. A

total

of

50

observations

were

made;

45

of

them

in

a

training

situation

and

5,

in

competition.

Individual interview with athletes in order to know their self-assessment; and to the two

team coaches, with the aim of knowing their assessment in relation to the behavior of

concentration of attention, specifically in the start. For its application, an interview guide

consisting of five questions was prepared, which was applied in the special preparation

stage.

Triangulation:

It

facilitated

summarizing

the

results

of

the

diagnosis

obtained

from

observation, tests and interviews with coaches and athletes.

The following tests were used for measurement:

Toulouse-Pierón Cross-out Test: Its objective is to measure perceptive and attentional

skills, that is, the ability to concentrate and resistance to attentional fatigue, as well as

perceptual speed and persistence. The sample of the test contains 460 graphic elements

(squares

that

have

a

dash

attached

perpendicular

to

one

of

its

sides

or

on

one

of

its

vertices) that is distributed in 23 rows with 20 elements. The task is to detect which of

them are the same as model 1 presented at the top of the sheet. The duration time is 1

minute.

Assessment

I INDEX OF THE INTENSITY OF ATTENTION (INDEX OF PRODUCTIVE WORK)	E CORRECT WORKING RATIO (CONCENTRATION INDEX)
368 OR MORE	Excellent	1.00 ------- 0.90
367 ------- 276	Very good	0.89 ------- 0.80
275 ------- 230	Good	0.79 ------- 0.70
229 ------- 184	Regular	0.79 ------- 0.70

Numerical

Grid

(38

digits):

allows

to

evaluate

the

capacity

and

stability

of

the

concentration of attention, to identify the behavior of internal-close attention. The score

obtained

is

divided

into

three

categories:

first

30

seconds

(attention

concentration

capacity), 60 seconds and 90 seconds (attention concentration stability). The evaluation

method is:

Category	WOMEN
30 seg.	60 seg.	90 seg.
Excellent	19 or more	29 or more	_____
Very good	18 a 15	28 a 24	38 a 32
Good	14 a 10	23 a 17	31a 24
Regular	9 a 6	16 a 11	23 a 17
wrong	5 or less	10 or less	16 or less o menos

Category	MAN
30 seg.	60 seg.	90 seg.
Excellent	17 or more	28 or more	_____
Very Good	16 a 14	27 a 24	38 a 33
Good	13 a 11	23 a 18	32 a 26
Regular	10 a 8	17 a 14	25 a 21
wrong	7 or less	13 or less	20 or less

The study took place during the special preparation stage. It was decided to apply the tests

before starting the training session in the morning session, the days that the start will take

place, considering that it is the most propitious moment to apply with all the conditions

created,

controlled

environment,

good

lighting,

in

addition

to

not

interfere

with

their

schedules.

Descriptive statistics were used to process the information using the average statistician,

the

empirical

distribution

of

absolute

and

relative

frequency

with

its

corresponding

percentage calculation. The data was collected in spreadsheets to later digitize them in

Excel.

Results and discussion

Through the application of the techniques the following results were obtained.

Table 1. Results of the Toulouse-Pierón Cross-out Test

N.º of athletes	E: Correct working coefficient (concentration index)	I: Attention intensity index (productive work index)	General evaluation
Quantitative evaluation	qualitative evaluation	Quantitative evaluation	qualitative evaluation
1	0.62	R	180	W	W
2	0.70	G	191	R	R
3	0.65	R	210	R	R
4	0.70	G	220	R	R
5	0.65	R	214	R	R
6	0.67	R	180	R	R
7	0.75	G	228	G	G
Half	0.68	R	203	R	R
%	--	57.14	--	71.42	71.42

Source: self made

As can be seen in Table 1, the quantitative and qualitative data reveal low indices in terms

of concentration, as well as the speed and perceptual persistence that allows the evaluation

of the test. The results show difficulties in resistance to attentional fatigue and in the

ability to concentrate attention, showing that the predominant evaluation is the regular

category with more than 50% of the sample studied.

Figure 1 shows that five of the athletes evaluated reached regular values for I (attention

intensity

index

or

productive

work

index),

a

regular

evaluation,

likewise

behaved

in

indicator E (correct work coefficient or concentration index) with a total of four subjects.

It is followed by the category of good and bad for both indicators. There was no evaluation

of excellent or very good.

Figure 1. Results of the Toulouse-Pierón Cross-out Test

The results indicate that I (intensity of attention) reaches 71.4% in the regular category,

followed by the good and bad category with 14.29% for both cases. Regarding the E

(concentration index), the regular category predominates in the same way with 57.1% of

all athletes, in second place, the good category with 42.9%.

These results allow us to infer that the quality of care in the studied sample is insufficient,

specifically its intensity, consequently, it affects the execution of the start to achieve

performance.

A second measurement of the concentration of attention is made up of the application of

the Numerical Grid Test (38 digits).

Table 2 shows a qualitative assessment, considering that the regular category is the one

that prevails. It can

be seen

that there is

a decrease in the concentration of

attention

consecutively, from 60 to 90 seconds and figures were raised to categories of regular and

bad respectively, at the same time that the categories of excellent, very good decreased.

and good. These results denote the decrease in terms of the stability of the attentional

capacities of the athletes as time progresses and difficulties in solving the task.

Table 2. Results of the Numerical Grid Test (38 digits).

N.º of athletes	30 seconds	60 seconds	90 seconds	General evaluation
Quantitative evaluation	qualitative evaluation	Quantitative evaluation	qualitative evaluation	Quantitative evaluation	qualitative evaluation
1	12	G	16	R	26	G	G
2	9	R	14	R	19	W	R
3	9	R	15	R	21	R	R
4	7	R	10	W	15	W	W

5	7	W	15	R	20	W	W
6	6	W	13	G	21	R	R
7	10	G	17	G	20	G	G
Half	9	R	12	R	20	R	R
%	--	57.14	--	71.42	--	42.85	42.85

Source: self made

In relation to the results, when analyzing the average for every 30 seconds in the test, the

category of regular increases, which reveals that the athletes show difficulties essentially

in the ability to concentrate, so that a decrease is evidenced until no more. There are

evaluations of excellent and very good. The fact that the results present negative values

indicates difficulties in the behavior of the ability and stability of attention concentration.

Figure 2. Results of the Numerical Grid Test (38 digits).

On the other hand, figure 3 reflects the comparison of the data obtained in the tests carried

out, it can be seen that in both similar results are obtained that show affectation in the

concentration of attention, where the evaluations focus on the category of regular with 5

and 3 cases respectively, three athletes are evaluated as bad, in both tests three cases

obtain

the