Self-talk and its application to competitive swimming

Abstract

Competitive endurance swimming is a discipline that requires full focus and concentration to achieve peak performance. Athletes use various psychological strategies to achieve their full concentration. One of these strategies is self-talk, which has gained more popularity in recent years. Self-talk may be divided such as internal and external self-talk. Long-term self-talk is proven to be the most effective compared with short-term self-talk. Competitive swimmers can create their scripts with their selection of self-talk cues that they have evaluated with their coach as those that need to be improved. Self-talk can help competitive swimmers improve their starting reactions, improve their kinesthetic skills, muscular strength, endurance, and kinematics. The use of self-talk may enhance athletic performance through the improvement in learning achievements, improved athletic skills, and self-confidence.