IDO MOVEMENT FOR CULTURE

Background. Self-talk has been proven to be an effective method in helping athletes improve performance. As many types of self-talk can be performed by athletes, it is important to know the effectiveness of different variations of self-talk.
Problem and aim. The lack of studies has been done comparing the effectiveness of motivational and instructional self-talk among Taekwondo athletes. Thus, it is the aim of this study to identify the effects of instructional and motivational self-talk on axe kick performance in taekwondo.
Material and methods. Thirty (N=30) black belt taekwondo athletes (mean age = 22.21 years old) were recruited as participants in this study. Participants were asked to attend three testing sessions separated by three days between sessions, each session with different self-talk; i) instructional, ii) motivational and ii) no self-talk. The kinematics of the kicking was analyzed and compared between the three types of self-talk using one-way repeated measure analysis of variances.
Results. Results showed performing motivational self-talk produced significantly greater maximum kick height, the angle between thighs during maximal kick height, maximal hip, knee and foot velocity than instructional and no self-talk. No significant differences were found between instructional self-talk and a control condition.
Conclusions. The findings showed the importance of cues during self-talk training for the athletes in order to enhance their performance. Motivational self-talk was found to be more effective for gross skills execution as an athlete could fully focus on performing the best performance rather than instructional self-talk which will cause athlete to give focus on following the instruction that they have in their mind.