This 15-minute lesson aims to enhance athlete performance through imagery exercises recalling past successes. The rationale is that imagery improves self-confidence, motivation, attention and anxiety management, and is used more by successful athletes. Participants will individually describe a best performance, then guide through visualizing it using senses to relive positive emotions and techniques. They will also visualize a poor performance to gain self-awareness. Debriefing discusses feelings and benefits of using imagery before competition. Studies show imagery helps top athletes enhance performance.

1. Topic: Imagery – Self-Awareness Length of session: 15 Minutes
Objective of Lesson
Enhance an athlete’s future performance by having to recount a remarkable past performance.
Rationale
- Imagery can enhance self-confidence, motivation, and attentional control; it also can change athlete’s
perceptions of anxiety. (Vealey & Greenleaf, 2006)
- Imagery enhances thoughts and emotions in athletes that are critical to an athlete’s performance and
it also has been shown that imagery is used more by successful athletes than by their non-successful
counterparts. (Vealey & Greenleaf, 2006)
- Seeing your self perform well creates positive beliefs about your ability to succeed therefore increasing
your chances of performing well. (Vealey & Greenleaf, 2006)
Materials
-Chairs
-White board and markers
Instructional Procedure and Key Teaching Points
1. Introduction
- Have you ever wanted to repeat a past performance you thought was your best?
-Using imagery techniques, you can perform at the top of your game without ever moving so much as a
finger.
2. Rationale
- Imagery can enhance self-confidence, motivation, and attentional control; it also can change athlete’s
perceptions of anxiety. (Vealey & Greenleaf, 2006)
- Imagery enhances thoughts and emotions in athletes that are critical to an athlete’s performance and
it also has been shown that imagery is used more by successful athletes than by their non-successful
counterparts. (Vealey & Greenleaf, 2006)
- Seeing your self perform well creates positive beliefs about your ability to succeed therefore increasing
your chances of performing well. (Vealey & Greenleaf, 2006)

2. 3. Introduce Self Awareness
- Self Awareness imagery is essential recounting a superior past performance in which you excelled at
and were highly successful.
-By imaging yourself in that past experience, you subconsciously remember the performance and using
the same techniques, thoughts and feelings, you boost your abilities to maximize success.
4. Activity
-Have every person in the group get into the imagery mind frame but prepping them, “Can you
remember your best performance? What was it like? What did you feel like? What did it feel like after?”
-Have every person verbally give some words to describe what the experience was like.
-Explain that by remembering and visualizing these past experiences, you can in fact duplicate the
performance by enhancing abilities, lessening anxiety and improving self-confidence. Then take the
students through a Self-awareness imagery script:
Think back and choose a past performance in which you performed very well. Using all your senses, re-
create that situation in your mind. See yourself as you were succeeding, hear the sounds involved, feel
your body as you performed the movement, and re-experience the positive emotions. Try to pick out the
characteristics that made you perform so well (e.g., intense concentration, feelings of confidence,
optimal arousal). After identifying these characteristics, try to determine why they were present in this
situation. Think about the things you did in preparation for this particular event. What are some of the
things that may have caused this great performance?
Repeat this exercise, imagining a situation in which you performed very poorly. Make sure you
are very relaxed before practicing this image, as your mind will subconsciously resist your imagery
attempts to re-create unpleasant thoughts, images, and feelings. Attempt to become more self-aware of
how you reacted to different stimuli (e.g. coaches, opponents, officials, fear of failure, and needing
approval from others) and how these thoughts and feeling may have interfered with your performance.
-Debriefing: How did the exercise make you feel (thoughts/emotions)? What sensations were you
feeling, smelling, hearing, and seeing? How clear was the image of you? Any specifics that came up?
What was the best/worst part of it?
5. Evaluation
-Go over the exercise with the students to see if they have learned anything:
Could you see yourself using this before a big competition?
Would it be beneficial to your performance?

3. 6. Conclusion
- In conclusion, studies have shown that many highly successful athletes use imagery to enhance their
performance.
- Professional golfer Bob Ford uses imagery to help clear his mind of all bad thoughts and gets him to
focus on the course and the positives. Many athletes during the 1996 Olympic Games were found to
have used imagery and the outcome was very successful athletes. Kristine Lilly made a crucial save in the
World cup against china, she stated, “The *imagery+ tapes give me that extra little confidence, remind
me about whom I am and what I can give.” (Vealey & Greenleaf, 2006).
- Any athlete that wants to be successful must incorporate imagery into their practice routine. By
visualizing your past performances, you can maximize the potential to repeat that same performance or
teach you to cope with the negative thoughts. It can improve self-confidence, lower anxiety and
increase your chances of success.
Resources
Vealy, R. S. & Greenleaf, C. A. (2010). Seeing is believing: Understanding and using imagery in sport. In
J.M. Willaims (Ed.), Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance (6th ed, pp.
267-304). Mountain view, CA: Mayfield.