Summary This study was designed to understand the effect of a single imagery session on precompetitive anxiety. The researchers were interested in understanding whether as a result of a single imagery swimmer's perceptions of anxiety changed and whether their precompetitive anxiety level lowered. The participants in this study were 40 NCAA Division I swimmers who had no previous experience using imagery skills. Each of the swimmers completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 which measures precompetitive anxiety as well as the Competitive Anxiety Perception Scale which measures athletes perceptions of anxiety (positive, negative, neutral), twice, once before the imagery intervention and once afterwards. To standardize the imagery session, an audiotape describing an upcoming meet was used as the imagery script. Each of the swimmers listened to the tape only once (a Thursday before a Saturday meet) and were told to practice imagery daily until the upcoming meet. Because of the positive effects of imagery practice, no control group was included in this study. Findings No significant differences were found in the athletes¡¯ report of their precompetitive anxiety levels. The athletes did report that their perceptions of anxiety became more positive after the single imagery session. Limitations The major limitation of this study has to do with the use of only a single imagery session. Most research investigating imagery use with athletes suggests that imagery is a skill that needs to be practiced in order to gain full benefits. Therefore, with only one imagery session the athletes may not have been able to create images they could control or see clearly to maximize the benefits. Maybe with a long term imagery program significant differences in precompetitive anxiety might be apparent.
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