effects of mental imagery on free throw performance of varsity basketball players during practice and competition
abstract
the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of mental
imagery in practice and in competition on the free throw shooting
performance of basketball players. the subjects were 3 male
university caliber basketball players. a single subject multiple
baseline design was implemented. each subject was introduced to the
imagery rehearsal intervention at different times during the 14 week
competitive basketball season. free throw data was collected during
50 practice sessions and 32 games. results in both practice and
competitive situations were examined using a graphed means
comparison. in the practice condition an increase in free throw
performance for all 3 subjects during the post treatment intervention
was found. in the game condition, subjects a and b indicated post
treatment improvement. mental imagery can be an effective strategy
to improve free throw performance of some basketball players.
further research in this area should involve controlled group
examination using a larger sample size across a variety of tasks.
collections
- retrospective theses [1604]