SELF-EFFICACY AND MOVEMENT VARIABILITY OF OLYMPIC-LEVEL SPRINGBOARD DIVERS

This study examined the relations between movement variability, self-e fficacy, self-evaluative reactions and expert evaluations of springboa rd dives in Olympic level athletes. A particular focus was to examine the variability of preparatory movement patterns as a function of dive difficulty and the diver's self-efficacy. The analyses revealed that variability of most kinematic parameters of the dive approach varied a s a function of the degree of difficulty of the dive. The greater the degree of difficulty of the dive the smaller the movement variability of the dive approach. Self-efficacy also varied inversely as a functio n of the degree of difficulty of the dive. Furthermore, self-efficacy and accuracy of self-evaluative reactions increased as the trials prog ressed in practice. Consistency was also found between the athlete's s elf-perceptions and experts' evaluations of diving performance. There appears to be a coherent relation between skilled divers self-efficacy and actual performance that varies even within the time course of a s ingle practice session. Results are discussed in terms of how self-eff icacy influences consistency in skilled performance in high degree of difficulty dives among elite, olympic level athletes.