THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBSERVABLE SELF-TALK AND COMPETITIVE JUNIOR TENNIS PLAYERS MATCH PERFORMANCE

In sport psychology, there is broad interest in cognitive factors that affect sport performance. The purpose of this research was to examine one such factor, self-talk, in competitive sport performance. Twenty- four junior tennis players were observed during tournament matches. Th eir observable self-talk, gestures, and match scores were recorded. Pl ayers also described their positive, negative, and other thoughts on a postmatch questionnaire. A descriptive analysis of the self-talk and gestures that occurred during competition was generated. It was found that negative self-talk was associated with losing and that players wh o reported believing in the utility of self-talk won more points than players who did not. These results suggest that self-talk influences c ompetitive sport outcomes. The importance of ''believing'' in self-tal k and the potential motivational and detrimental effects of negative s elf-talk on performance are discussed.