Where, When, and Why Young Athletes Use Imagery

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate young athletes' imagery use from a developmental perspective. The participants were 110 male and female athletes competing in both team and individual sports. They represented four different age cohorts (i.e., 7–8, 9–10, 11–12, and 13–14 years). Sixteen focus groups, two for each age category and gender, were used as the method of data collection. The findings indicated “where,” “when,” and “why” young athletes use imagery and how imagery use changes as children move from early childhood through to early adolescence. Overall, results revealed that all age cohorts reported using imagery in both training and competition and for both cognitive and motivational purposes. The present research also found support for studying imagery use by young athletes from a developmental perspective.

Key words:

• adolescence
• early childhood
• focus groups
• qualitative research

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Krista J. Munroe-Chandler

This research was supported by a grant from SSHRC awarded to the first three authors of this paper. We would like to thank two graduate students for their assistance with the data collection and analysis; Nathan Hall and Jenny O. Please address all correspondence concerning this article to Krista J. Chandler, Faculty of Human Kinetics, The University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON, Canada, N9B 3P4