Professional functions of modern trainers have long expanded from a simple function of training athletes to compete to the performance of the numerous roles of leader, organizer, psychologist, which are based on the ability of a coach to improve their professional skills and personal qualities. 

With the increasing popularity of sports, the means and conditions of sports training, the requirements to the quality of work and mastery of the main subjects of sports are increasing. The demand for a coach as a key figure in the education of successful athletes rises. 

The paper analyzes the research of criteria and factors of sports coach efficiency; the features of reflexive processes as one of the most effective ways of coach’s professional development. 

The correlation analysis performed in the work showed a significant connection between professional success and the reflexivity of trainers, which in general is correspondent with the results of similar studies performed in a number of other research fields. In the work there was no confirmation of the regular viewpoint in psychological studies of the relationship between the success of activity and the personality’s internality, which induced a number of new assumptions about the nature of the interaction of successful coaches with their pupils, leadership style, and personality traits.

The results of the study as a whole cause additional questions about individual psychological characteristics of respondents and allow to identify further research.

The modern world imposes strict conditions on people in various types of activities. A huge amount of processed information, tight timelines and other factors may cause people’s inability to cope with their tasks. Thus, there is a popular habit to put off the work without thinking about the consequences. This trait called procrastination is inherent to a million people all over the world. The problem of procrastination is just beginning to develop in Russia. Nowadays lots of foreign research and foreign questionnaires are being translated and approbated. The aim of this research is to identify the level of athletes’ procrastination, and define the differences of procrastination patterns in individual and team sports athletes. Also we want to study the relationship between procrastination and athletes’ personal characteristics such as extroversion, neuroticism, control over the actions, motivation to success, anxiety, time perspective and decision-making style (coping), and also indicators of state anxiety using a sample of individual athletes (boxing, unarmed self-defence, judo, karate, kickboxing, wrestling, taekwondo) and teams (hockey, football, volleyball). Correlation analysis shows structural differences of procrastination manifestations in different types of sport. Regression analysis shows that in athletes of individual sports (model: p = 0,002, adjusted R2 = 0,368) there is only one significant predictor of procrastination - the negative past (p = 0,007, β = 0,495). 

The negative past (p = 0,003, β = 0,463), the control over the planning of the action (p = 0,05, β = -0.220) and the monitoring of the implementation of the action (p = 0,003, β = -0,465) are the predictors of procrastination in team sports (model: p = 0,002, adjusred R2 = 0,368).

Actual problems of modern psychology are fundamental studies of the phenomenon of anticipation, the search for new methodological approaches to the study of its mechanisms and processes of development are considered. There is a particular interest in the anticipation issue in sport, where the probabilistic forecast of the situation is crucial for winning. The paper presents the results of testing methods for anticipation skills in wrestling. The main objective of the study was to find psycho-physiological and behavioral indicators to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the degree of anticipation. The skills formation procedure was based on the reinforcement of the correct choice of behaviour in simulated situations of decision-making using multiple choices technique. Stimuli were videos of simulated situations in wrestling. Simultaneous recording of oculomotor activity and registration of multi-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) was carried out.

wrestling. Simultaneous recording of oculomotor activity and registration of multi-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) was carried out. The results showed the effectiveness of the proposed method. After completing training the number of errors and the decision taking time span reduced. Expert assessment of the main qualifying factors showed a significant increase of the test group. On the psychophysiological level, there is a reduction of oculomotor activity in selecting the right answers, reducing the number of fixations, the number of fixations and saccades reverse on the text of questions and answers. Analysis of EEG parameters showed a gradual decrease in the index of brain activation when analysing simulated situations and dynamic movement of the peaks of activity in the frontal areas of the temporal and occipital areas during the series of trainings.