The use of imagery across competitive levels and time of season: a cross-sectional study amongst synchronized skaters in Finland

The purpose of this study was to gain an insight into the use of imagery by Finnish synchronized skaters. A total of 269 skaters (senior85, junior98, novice86) simultaneously completed the original and a translated version of the Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ; Hall, Mack, Paivio, & Hausenblas, 1998) twice, first at the beginning of the pre-season (July August 2002) and then during the competitive season (January 2003). Multivariate analyses of variance revealed (all PB 0.05) that senior skaters used more cognitive specific (CS), motivational general-arousal (MG-A), and motivational generalmastery (MG-M) imagery than junior skaters; differences in CS, cognitive general (CG), MG-A, and MG-M imagery were found between senior and novice skaters; between junior and novice skaters, differences were found in CG and MG-A imagery. Time of season analyses revealed skaters used more CG, MS, and MG-M imagery during the competitive season than at the beginning of the pre-season. No significant interaction effect between competitive level and time of season was observed. The results are discussed in relation to the applied model of imagery (Martin, Moritz, & Hall, 1999). To make competitive level transitions less demanding, the results suggest that a psychological skills training programme should be introduced for novice synchronized skaters.