PURPOSE This study sought to examine the psychological responses of nextgeneration national team athletes to injuries as well as on-site coping strategies and explore effective ways to apply these in practice. METHODS A total of 60 nextgeneration national team athletes and 5 national team coaches participated in indepth interviews and answered semistructured questionnaires to better understand psychological responses to injury. The collected data were then subjected to semantic and inductive content analysis. RESULTS The data produced three main themes: perceptions of injury (positive and negative), psychological responses to injury, and coping strategies such as rehabilitation processes and injury prevention. Analysis of negative psychological responses generated three categories: psychological withdrawal (104/58.4%), slumps (37/20.8%), and trauma (37/20.8%). Meanwhile, all positive psychological responses fell under one theme: positive attitude (28/100%). Additionally, an examination of national team coaches’ perceptions of player injuries highlighted three key areas: causes of injury (loss of concentration, psychological pressure, and arousal during competition), coaches’ response processes (immediate responses and hindering factors), and injury management strategies for field application (internal and external measures). CONCLUSIONS Psychological factors that emerge during the injury process of next-generation national team athletes must be identified to understand the challenges they face and allow coaches to implement appropriate support strategies in response to sports injuries.
