Background. Self-talk has been proven to be an effective method in helping athletes improve performance. As many types of selftalk 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.
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