Enhancing the Collective Efficacy of a Soccer Team through Motivational General-Mastery Imagery

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to implement a motivational general-mastery imagery intervention in order to increase a soccer team's collective efficacy. The participants were 14 female members of a competitive traveling soccer club ( M = 11.47 years, SD = .74). All athletes were placed into one of three groups based on playing position: forwards, midfielders, or defense/goal keeper. A staggered multiple baseline design across groups was employed to evaluate the imagery intervention. Collective efficacy data for training and competition were collected once a week for 13 weeks. The imagery intervention began at weeks 4, 7, and 10 for the forwards, midfielders and defense/goal keeper, respectively. Results from visual inspection as well as Binomial tests revealed athletes' collective efficacy increased with the implementation of the motivational general-mastery imagery intervention for both training and competition for two of the three groups. In order to investigate the athlete's individualized imagery use, an imagery assessment questionnaire was administered. The results showed that the athletes used imagery on almost a daily basis. As well, the athletes had a very positive reaction to the imagery training.