Examination of the effect of imagery practice on the shoot skills of 12-14 years old male football players

In this study conducted, it is aimed to investigate the effect of the imagery practice which is applied to male football players in the 12-14 age group on the shooting skill. 32 male football players who regularly train in football schools participated in the study. The players which were participated in the study were divided into two groups as the experimental group (n=16) and the control group (n=16). While the football players in the experimental group were included in the imagery practice, the football players in the control group continued to apply their current training programs. In the imagery practice which was applied to the players in the experimental group, Ungerleider's (1996) directed imagery approach and the stages of the imagery training model synthesized by Konter (1999) from Martens and Vealy approaches were used. The 'Children's Sports Imagination Scale' and 'Shooting Test' were applied to the groups before and after the study. The scale used was developed by Hall et al. (2009) and adapted to Turkish by Kafkas (2011). At the end of the study, when compared with the players in the control group, it was determined that in the 'Children's Sports Imagination Scale' scores of the football players in the experimental group increased significantly (p<0.05). Besides, when compared with the players in the control group, it was found that there was a significant increase in the post-test 10m and 15m shot performances of the players in the experimental group (p<0.05). Consequently, it can be said that the imagery practice which was applied to male football players in the 12-14 age group improves the shot skills with imagination.