Sport Psychology. 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, agil

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. As the athlete had little experience in Sport Aerobics, it was difficult for her to differentiate between what was the correct technique and what the incorrect techniques were. Therefore, she relied upon feedback supplied by external sources (i.e. her peers, teachers and family members). This augmented feedback aided the athlete’s progress throughout the term by giving her the knowledge of skills that she was performing incorrectly and thus what she was required to improve upon.

The amount, content, frequency, precision, and type of augmented feedback provided are critical elements in skill acquisition, and manipultaion of these variables can result in different learning outcomes (Li, W., Solmon, M.A., Lee, A.M., Purvis, G., & Chu, H., 2007). The student had a sufficient amount good quality feedback at a constant frequency and precision which enable her to progress from the high cognitive stage to the high associative stage during the term. Temporal feedback is feedback that is related to an athlete's personal improvement. Normative feedback provides evaluative information about their ability relative to others (Li, W. et al,2007). Li et al (2007) also state that students with entity views of ability are more likely to favour normative feedback, whereas students with incremental views of ability are more attentive to temporal feedback. The athlete mainly relied on temporal feedback, as she was highly focussed on improving her own skills rather than comparing them to other peoples'.

Feedback has at least three major functions: motivation, reinforcement or punishment, and error correction (Williams, J.M., 2006). As the athlete was highly motivated towards the task, she did not require any external motivation. The main function of feedback that the student used was that of error correction. The error correction function of feedback is regarded by many as the most important. Throughout the term, the athlete used this function repeatedly by drawing on both intrinsic and augmented feedback in order to enhance her performance.

Another principle that the athlete used in order to reach optimal performance was ...

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Another principle that the athlete used in order to reach optimal performance was imagery. Imagery is defined as “using all the senses to recreate or create an experience in the mind” (Vealey, R.S. & Greenleaf, C.A., 2001). In an expansion of this definition, Cox (2002) states that imagery can involve an image being created in the mind in the absence of external stimuli, involves one or all of the senses and/or an image being created from information stored in the sensory register, working memory or long term memory. Because the brain cannot tell the difference between the actual physical event and vivid imagery of the same event (Fisher, A.C., 1986), imagery can be used by the brain to provide powerful repetition, elaboration, intensification and preservation of important athletics sequences and skills (Cox, R.H., 2002). Cox (2002) also states that although physically practicing skills is superior to mentally practicing them, mental practice is better than no practice. However, mental practice used in a complementary fashion with physical practice has been found to often yield the best results (Feltz, D.L. & Landers, D.M., 1983; Grouios, G., 1992; Hinshaw, K.E.,1991). During the course of the term, the athlete was injured for a short period of time, making her unable to participate in physical practice. 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.

Mahoney and Avener (1977) state that imagery has two perspectives, and defined these perspectives as internal and external. Internal imagery involves the person imagining being inside her body and experiencing those sensations that might occur while performing in the real situation. External imagery occurs when the subjects view themselves from the perspective of an external observer (much like watching themselves on TV) (Mahoney, M.J. & Avener, M., 1977). According to Hardy and Callow (1999), both internal and external imagery utilizes all five of the body's senses, however different skills may benefit more from one perspective than from another. The student used a combination of the two perspectives throughout the term to ensure all aspects of her performance were progressing. She used internal imagery more regularly as it was more natural, however the use of external imagery also aided her progress throughout the term.

There are three theories that explain why imagery works as a way of learning skills and routines. These are the Symbolic Learning theory, Psychoneuromuscular theory, and the Attention and Arousal Set theory. The symbolic learning theory purports to explain the phenomenom of performance enhancement, through imagery, as being based upon advanced planning (Cox, R.H., 2002). This theory states that subliminal electric activity in the musculature is not required, the individual literally plans her actions in advance and that motor sequences, task goals and alternative solutions are considered cognitively before a physical response is required (Cox, R.H., 2002). The psychoneuromuscular theory aims to explain the phenomenom through imagery based upon subliminal neuromuscular patterns. It posits that neuromuscular patterns from imagery are identical to those used during actual practice (Cox, R.H., 2002). According to Cox (2002), this theory gives the most plausible explanation as to why imagery facilitates physical performance and learning. The attention and arousal set theory combines the cognitive aspects of the symbolic learning theory with the physiological aspects of the psychoneuromuscular theory to explain performance enhancement through imagery (Cox, R.H., 2002).

Individual athletes require different motivational tools and psychological skills in order to enhance their performance. Throughout the term, the athlete used a number of psychological techniques to ensure that she performed to her potential. She mainly utilised feedback given to her from her peers, family members and teachers, as well as intrinsic feedback. She used imagery and mental practice in order to learn and practice the routine when physical practice was not possible due to location or injury. She used a combination of internal and external imagery in order to gain the maximum advantage from it. Overall, the athlete implemented many of the psychological skills learnt both in class and from independent research to maximise her ability to perform to a satisfactory level.

Reference List

Cox, R.H. (2002). Sports Psychology; Concepts and Applications (5th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Fisher, A.C. (1986). Imagery from a sport psychology perspective. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Cincinnati, Ohio.

Feltz, D.L. & Landers, D.M. (1983). The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. 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