Introduction: Personality trait is an important factor for sport performance so that understanding these traits in athletes could help physical education teachers and coaches to be successful. On the other hand, technical and psychological characteristics of individual and team sports are basically different. In team sports, interaction with other team mates and performing group strategies are so important. In individual sports, however, the ability to keep and increase internal motivation, personal concentration and some other factors are essential. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to compare personality trait of professional athletes in selected team and individual sports.
Methodology: To this end, 120 female athletes from two team sports (volleyball and basketball) and two individual sports (badminton and aerobics) were selected based on accessibility. Each participant was a member of the related sport team/club for at least two years, having regularly three training sessions per week. Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ) was used, assessing extroversion / introversion and emotional stability / in-stability dimensions. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyze data.
Results: Results revealed a significant difference between groups in terms of extroversion/introversion and stability / instability traits. Athletes in individual sports were more in-stable and introvert while athletes in team sports were more extrovert and stable.
Discussion: According to these results, it could be said that athletes’ personality trait is considered as an important and effective factor in choosing the kind of sport (individual or team). Thus, it is suggested that physical education teachers and coaches consider this point when selecting athletes in professional level.