Self Talk

Self-Talk

Every athlete, at some point, talks to themselves. Self-talk is defined as overt or covert personal dialogue in which the athlete interprets feelings, perceptions and convictions and gives himself instructions and reinforcement. It can be spoken aloud — a tennis player muttering "come on" after a good point — or run silently as a stream of thoughts during competition.

Self-talk is an effective technique to control thoughts and influence feelings, and thoughts and feelings in turn influence self-confidence and performance. During any performance, especially in competition, thoughts — positive or negative — come into an athlete's mind; these are a form of self-talk. The athlete must learn to control and structure them to his advantage by carefully pre-selecting the actual words and phrases used, with help from the coach or sport psychologist.

For self-talk to be effective, statements should be:

• (a) brief and phonetically simple;
• (b) logically associated with the skill involved;
• (c) compatible with the sequential timing of the task being performed.

Types of Self-Talk

The textbook lists three primary categories of self-talk:

1. Task-specific statements — words that reinforce technique. For example, in a tennis volley the word "turn" cues the player to prepare to step into the volley.
2. Encouragement and effort — words that provide self-encouragement to persevere or try harder, such as "You can do it" before an anticipated play at home plate in softball.
3. Mood words — words that increase mood or arousal, such as "hard" or "blast" used in conjunction with a play in football or soccer.

Benefits of Self-Talk

1. Building and developing self-efficacy — self-talk stimulates the belief that one is competent and able to perform a task effectively.
2. Skill acquisition — it helps the athlete keep working hard while learning a new skill, replacing bad habits with good ones. …