Die effek van sportsielkundige opleiding op die prestasie van sportlui met spesifieke verwysing na baanatlete

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study investigated the effects of a relaxation, self-talk, goal-setting, imagery,and concentration training package on the performance of six athletes in the 1500-meter event. Subjects were four female and two male high school middle distanceathletes. The dependent measure was time taken to complete the 1500-meter nmin competition settings.A mental skills training package was developed, implemented and evaluated usinga single subject, multiple baseline design. Performance scores were plotted foreach 1500-meter nm and subjects' graphs were assessed for intervention-relatedchange against mean performance change and established split-middle analysiscriteria. Visual inspection of plotted values was supplemented by quantitiveanalysis using repeated measures analysis of variance (RANOV A). This studyalso included procedural reliability checks to ensure that the athletes did in filetutilize the mental skills they received training in.Visual analysis indicated the mental skills package to be effective in enhancingperformance times (1500-meter) in the case of four of the athletes. Overall,repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant improvement in 1500-meter performance times for subjects across phases. However, a split-middleanalysis of within subject variation indicated that a significant intervention effectwas not observed in two of the six subjects.The social validity assessment by athletes and their two coaches provided furtherconfirmation of the overall effectiveness of the intervention. Social validationchecks indicated all participants to have perceived the intervention to besuccessful and all were satisfied with the delivery and content of the trainingpackage.The results support the usefulness of single-subject research designs for assessingthe impact of mental training. The present study demonstrated that a mental skillstraining package combining relaxation, self-ta1k, goal setting, imagery, andconcentration skills was effective in enhancing athletic performance.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University