Understanding Students' Psychological Readiness: Analysis of Motivation and Anxiety Levels Among High School Badminton Student-Athletes

Psychological readiness is a vital component in physical education and school sports, yet empirical attention often skews toward physical and tactical training, neglecting the deep psychological experiences of student-athletes facing competitive school championships. This study aims to analyze the intrinsic and extrinsic configurations of motivation and pre-competition anxiety among senior high school (SMA) badminton student-athletes representing their school in a regional student championship. Using a descriptive qualitative research design, this study investigated six senior high school badminton student-athletes selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations during school-level preparation, and document analysis. The data were evaluated through Miles and Huberman’s interactive qualitative analysis, consisting of data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. Trustworthiness was preserved using source and technique triangulation. The thematic synthesis indicated that students’ motivation levels prior to the match were predominantly high to very high, heavily driven by intrinsic athletic self-improvement and extrinsic social reinforcement (coach support, peer recognition, and school pride). Conversely, student-athletes also manifested high levels of pre-competition cognitive and somatic anxiety, triggered by academic-athletic role conflicts, fear of failure, and the intimidating atmosphere of the championship. High motivation does not automatically insulate student-athletes from severe anxiety. Physical education teachers and school sports coaches must integrate structured psychological skill training (PST) alongside standard tactical instruction to optimize students' mental health and athletic performance.