The effect of self-talk on the penalty execution in goalball

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness and preference of the two different types of self-talk (instructional and motivational) on penalty execution skill in goalball and gain insight on the athletes' perceptions concerning self-talk use and its influence on their performance. The sample consisted of six female athletes, aged 26—40 years old (mean = 33 years), all members of the national goalball team representing Greece in the Paralympic Games in Athens 2004. In each experimental procedure, five athletes were the subjects of an instructional and a motivational self-talk test while executing 20 penalties, with a rest period following the first 10 penalties. One athlete was stable defending the other athletes' shooting and she was not involved in any test during each experimental procedure. Although non-parametric statistics indicated no difference on performance, the results revealed a percentage difference on performance ranging from 1.5 per cent to 26.1 per cent for each athlete in favour of instructional self-talk in all three experimental procedures. Finally, participants showed preference toward the use of instructional self-talk to improve their penalty execution skill.