Mental imagery is a mind-body therapy used in sports and athletics as the ability to create an experience in the mind (McCarthy and Jones 170). It is the most used mind process that serves in enhancing professional athletes performances. It refers to the quasi-sensory and quasi-perceptual know-hows of which an individual is self-consciously familiar. It also serves the individual when motivation conditions known to produce their candid sensory or perceptual matching parts are absent (Audette and Bailey 313). Favorite results of mind imagery in sports are evident with numerous reports on performance enhancement by athletes using the therapy. Surveys from the U.S Olympic Training Centre reported an affirmation of mental imagery by 90% of the athletes and 94% of coaches using it with their athletes. 97% and 100% of these athletes and coaches respectively affirmed to its effectiveness (Audette and Bailey 313).
The technique also gets used on young players to enhance their performance. Accomplishment of performance in these young athletes serves in developing competence in the young players, improving the quality of the sport, and also nurturing great performing athletes. Children and adolescents play along well and in fact like the technique. Additionally, mental imagery has not only featured in enhancing performance but also in various situations for skill learning. When used appropriately, this technique works in enhancing performance by building self-confidence in an athlete. It also helps him/her in controlling emotions especially when under pressure and serves as an internal and personal motivation (McCarthy and Jones 170).
Studies have shown mental imagery to be of different types for different performance aspects. Cognitive specific is one of these types and is specific to one sporting skill. It applies in learning new skills and subsequently enhance skilled performance. Cognitive general is a mental imagery specific to a certain strategy. Motivational general mastery works in helping the players cope and master challenging situations during sporting. Fourth, motivational general arousal is an imagery type used in enhancing an athlete’s emotions associated with competition. These two motivational types of mental imagery equip the performers with enhanced competence perceptions by putting them in a mental situation of challenges and triumph of goals (McCarthy and Jones 170).
Mental imagery in golf and other sports is not just specific to the sporting action itself but also extends to imagery of the possible outcome which could be negative or positive. Studies in golf-putting task under imagery of both possible outcomes have shown that negative outcome imagery is very detrimental to a golf player and any other athlete. However, positive outcome imagery is a big boost to an athlete’s performance (Taylor and Shaw 167). Mental imagery could either be external or internal. It is external when an individual sees himself from a fan’s perspective and internal when the athlete assumes to see the activity in their eyes. Findings have revealed that when the athlete sees an activity progressing in his/her brain, various parts of the brain that function in physical movement immediately react resulting in increased activity. Other findings revealed the relationship between activation of muscles and imagery when at rest. When resting, the mind forms an image of a certain sporting activity and the electrodes for that specific activity located within the muscle subsequently activate the muscles. That strengthens the physical and mental pathways the moment these skills get performed. That gives an explanation on how mental imagery relates to a specific sporting activity and how it enhances performance (Clark, Lucett, and Kirkendall 31).
Works Cited
Audette, Joseph F., and Allison Bailey. “Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the Athlete.” Clinical Sports Medicine: Medical Management and Rehabilitation. Ed. Walter R. Frontera, Stanley A. Herring, Lyle J. Micheli, and Julie K. Silver. Edinburgh: Saunders, 2007. 307-320. Print.
Clark, Michael, Scott Lucett, and Donald Kirkendall. NASM’s Essentials of Sports Performance Training. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010. Print.
McCarthy, Paul J., and Marc V. Jones. “Enjoyment in Youth Sport: Creating a Feel Good Factor.” Psychology of Moods. Ed. Anita Clark. New York: Nova Publishers, 2005. 157-180. Print.
Taylor, Jamie A., and Francis D. Shaw. “The Effect of Outcome Imagery on Golf-Putting Performance.” Science and Golf IV: Proceedings of the World Scientific Congress of Golf. Ed. Eric Thain. New York, NY: Routledge, 2002. 167-177. Print.
