Enhancing Competitive Performance of Ice Hockey Goaltenders Using Centering and Self-Talk

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of two mental skills on the performance of ice hockey goaltenders during league games. The mental skills utilized were relaxation, in the form of centering, and self-talk. The participants were five male junior A hockey goaltenders. A single-subject multiple baseline across individuals design was employed to evaluate the use of the mental skills. The results demonstrated that the mental skills training was effective in producing improvements in the save percentage of the goaltenders. The social validation results indicated that the participants enjoyed using the mental skills and were satisfied with the results obtained. Furthermore, the coaches were very satisfied with the results and felt that the mental skills training was an important ingredient for improving performance, in particular performance consistency.