The effect of mental training on the performance of young male gymnasts

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study examined the effect of a mental training program on the performance of eight-tonine-year-old male gymnasts in the acquisition and execution of a newly learned gymnasticelement, namely the headspring. Twenty-five gymnasts, all with one-year experience ingymnastics, were tested on the four prerequisite elements for the headspring. The selectedgroup was randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group respectively. Theexperimental group received six weekly mental training interventions, consisting of anadapted progressive relaxation approach with deepening techniques and imagery. In additionto the mental training interventions the experimental group took part in the weekly physicaltraining program. The control group only received the physical training. The gymnasts wereevaluated on a daily basis to monitor their progress. The headspring was evaluated by meansof a post-intervention testing. A pre- and post-intervention interview was also conducted withall the gymnasts to determine qualitatively whether the mental training influenced thegymnasts' physical symptoms, cognitions and emotions during a competition situation. Interjudgereliability coefficients were also calculated for the pre- and posttests in order toestablish to what degree the judges evaluated the elements uniformly.The results of the daily-progression testing indicated that the control group performedsignificantly better than the experimental group on one occasion, namely the session beforethe first mental training session was introduced to the experimental group. The experimentalgroup, however, performed significantly better than the control group on two occasions justbefore and just after the third mental training session. The results of the post-interventiontesting indicated that the experimental group did not perform significantly better than thecontrol group during the execution of the headspring. The experimental group did, however,show a clear non-significant tendency to perform better than the control group during thedaily-progression testing and the post-intervention testing. The pre- and post-interventioninterviews indicated that the control group, in comparison with the experimental group,reported the same number of positive physical symptoms, cognitions and emotions before andafter the experiment. The experimental group reported fewer positive physical symptomsduring a competition situation, but more thoughts about the correct execution of theheadspring and more positive emotions during competitions were reported after theexperiment. The inter-judge reliability coefficients indicated that the judges evaluated theelements in the pretest more uniformly.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University