Level of Intelligence: A Comparative Study of Individual vs. Team Sports Athletes

R.G. Petrea; R.G. Barliba; M. Chirazi

doi:10.31926/but.shk.2025.18.67.2.13

Authors

R.G. Petrea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania
R.G. Barliba Institute of Psychiatry „Socola" Iasi, Romania
M. Chirazi „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31926/but.shk.2025.18.67.2.13

Keywords:

level of intelligence, swimming, football, children

Abstract

In this research Level of Intelligence: A Comparative Study of Individual vs. Team Sports Athletes we compared the level of intelligence of individual sports (swimming) versus team sports (soccer). The research subjects are child athletes (swimmers and soccer players) aged between 6.0 and 9.11 (M = 7.08; SD = ±0.63) years who practice these sports at sports clubs in the Municipality of Iasi. The hypothesis of the research is there is no statistically significant difference in the level of intelligence that swimmers have compared to footballers. The research results show that the hypothesis is disproved, and the difference in the intelligence level that footballers have (M = 103.25; SD = ±12.86) is statistically significantly higher (t = 3.05; p = 0.003) compared to the intelligence level of swimmers (M = 97.08; SD = ±9.15). This difference may be due to genetic inheritance, but also to the fact that soccer is a team sport that requires more psychomotor processing due to aspects such as: execution technique, teammates and the presence of direct opponents.