... in the absence of external stimuli" (Murphy, 1994). More simply, imagery is the notion of being able to recall an action previously made to your memory and re-perform the action. Being able to recall the action is beneficial in terms of improvement of performance as mistakes can be amended mentally prior to re-performance. Previous research on imagery has focused on the cognitive function and past studies have been limited in terms of sport by a failure to examine any changes in athletes imagery use during a competitive season (Hall et al, 1990). Early imagery use concentrated on skill and strategy acquisition, skill maintenance, self-imagery manipulation and attention/pain control, over recent years this has altered to incorporate the field of sports participation. Hall et al (1990) states that everyone has the capacity for mental imagery and that there is no doubt that it has a significant positive effect on the development of ...

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