Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the process through which an athlete becomes familiar with self-talk techniques. 14 male adult tennis players (average age = 39.36, DS = 6.18) used instructional and self-determined self-talk throughout several repetitions of a tennis task. We measured the technique’s perceived difficulty and effectiveness, together with the players’ accuracy, performance satisfaction and perceived concentration. Variance analysis with repeated measures revealed the effect of the number of self-talk tests on difficulty, effectiveness, satisfaction and concentration. These results (a) concur with the previous findings in self-talk literature that have identified the beneficial effects of self-talk in terms of performance enhancement and attention focusing, and (b) suggest that there is a process through which players can become familiar with the technique.