Investigation of the effects of imagery practices on target-aimed punch, motor imagery skills and proprioceptive senses of karate players

The main purpose of this research is to examine the effects of imagery exercises on target-oriented punch strokes, motor imagery skills and proprioceptive senses of karate players. For the purpose, 31 karate athletes between the ages of 15-17 were studied. The research group was divided into two as experimental and control groups, and motor imagery was applied to the experimental group for 8 weeks. The control group, on the other hand, did only karate training without imagery studies. During this process, measurements were taken at 4 different times. Three separate measurements were made in the measurements of the parameters. These; target-oriented punch punch performance measurement, reposition test and movement imagery scale were applied. The unequalized control group model was used as the research model. In the analysis process of the data, firstly, the kurtosis and skewness values of the related data were calculated. Then, Independent Samples t-Test was applied regarding the pre-test and post-test values of both research groups and ANCOVA was applied to the parameters found to be different depending on these tests. In order to test the differences between the measurements, Parametric tests Repeated Measur ANOVA and Paired Simples t-Test were used. At the same time, Bonferroni corrections were made for the values related to these tests. As a result of the analyzes, it was determined that motor imagery studies improved the target-oriented hitting performance test scores of karate athletes, and the karate training applied during the research process improved this performance in the control group, but the experimental group achieved a more successful average score among post-test measurements. When the delayed post-test measurements were examined, it was found that the average score obtained was more unsuccessful than the post-test values. In the proprioceptive sensory measurements of the research groups, it was concluded that there was an improvement in the mean scores of the control group as well as the experimental group. However, it was determined that the experimental group achieved a more successful average score among the post-test measurements. When the delayed post-test measurements were examined, it was found that the average score obtained from the shoulder joint sense measurements of the karate players was more unsuccessful than the post-test values. Finally, it was concluded that there was an improvement in the mean scores of the control group as well as the experimental group in the kinesthetic imagery and visual imagery measurements of both the experimental and control groups regarding the movement imagery scale. However, it was determined that the experimental group achieved a more successful average score among the post-test measurements, and these average scores were almost close to the full score. As a result, it can be said that motor imagery exercises applied in parallel with kumite training can improve the target-oriented punch strokes, motor imagery skills and proprioceptive senses of karate athletes.