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Introduction

Sport Psychology in Sport Aerobics Sport psychology is concerned with developing psychological skills in order to master the mind and improve physical performance (Cox, 2002). Sport psychology is a multifaceted field of study and therefore, all aspects must be considered for individual athletes. The athlete to be discussed in this paper found that imagery, feedback, goal setting and confidence played major roles in her overall performance in Sport Aerobics. Sport Aerobics incorporates facets of strength, flexibilty, power, agility and dance into a routine that is highly energy intensive. Imagery and feedback are the main factors that affected her performance and will therefore be the concepts explored in this essay. Feedback is information that athletes receive about their performances. There are two main types of feedback: intrinsic and augmented (Williams, J.M., 2006). According to Williams (2006), intrinsic feedback is information received as a natural consequence of moving; it is provided by the athlete's own sensory systems and in many sports in readily apparent after performing a task. Augmented feedback is information received by athletes that is not a natural consequence of executing a skill; it is provided by an external source such as a coach, teacher or video recording (Williams, J.M., 2006). Augmented feedback is provided beyond intrinsic feedback and supplements the information that is naturally available. ...read more.

Middle

Therefore, the student had to rely upon mental practice to consolidate the parts of the routine learnt during the classes that she was not able to take part in. According to Paivio (1985), imagery has both a cognitive and motivational function. The cognitive function of imagery is the use of mental imagery to experience specific sports skills and to plan strategies and routines in advance of competitions or major performances. The motivational function of imagery is to experience goal attainment, effective coping, and arousal management (Cox, R.H., 2002). Within such functions, there are many ways to use imagery in sport. These include but are not limited to learning and practicing sport skills, correcting mistakes, learning and practicing performance strategies, mentally focussing oneself for competition, and aiding in recovery from injuries (Williams, J.M., 2006). The athlete used imagery in all of the above ways to ensure that she performed to the best of her potential. She used imagery to learn and practice skills and segments of the routine when physical practice was not possible, she used imagery in order to correct her mistakes by taking corrective feedback, visualising the changes and then attempting to perform these changes. She also used visualisation in order to learn the routine while taking part in physical practice as well as when she was injured. ...read more.

Conclusion

Journal of Sports Psychology, 5, 25 - 57. Grouios, G. (1992). Mental Practice: A Review. Journal of Sport Behaviour, 15, 42 - 59. Hinshaw, K.E. (1991). The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning performance: Critical evaluation and meta-analysis. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 11, 3 - 35. Hardy, L. & Callow, N. (1999). Efficacy of external and internal visual imagery perspectives for the enhancement of performance on tasks which form is important. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 25, 95 - 112. Paivio, A. (1985). Cognitive and motivational functions of imagery in human performance. Canadian Journal of Applied Sports Sciences, 10, 225 - 285. Williams, J.M. (2006). Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance. New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education. Mahoney, M.J. & Avener, M. (1977). Psychology of the elite athlete: an exploratory study. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 3, 361 -366. Li, W., Solmon, M.A., Lee, A.M., Purvis, G. & Chu, H. (2007). Examining the relationships between students' implicit theories of ability, goal orientations and the preferred type of augmented feedback. Journal of Sport Behaviour, 280. Vealey, R.S. & Greenleaf, C.A. (2001). Seeing is believing: Understanding and using I magery in Sport. In J.M Williams (Ed), Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance (p 247 - 272) Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Company. Sport Psychology in Sport Aerobics Student Number: s005051 Teacher: Miss Sloane Class: 11.1 Word Count: 1404 Due Date: 17th September, 2008 ...read more.

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