COMBINED EFFECT OF TRADITIONAL TRAINING AND IMAGERY VISUALIZATION ON SKILL PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOL LEVEL FOOTBALL PLAYERS

This study investigates the combined effect of traditional training, imagery, and visualization on the skill performance of school-level football players. Thirty male students, aged 11 to 17 years, from Swamy Sivananda Higher Secondary School, Periyanaikanpalayam, Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, were selected and randomly assigned to two equal groups: an experimental group (n = 15) and a control group (n = 15). The experimental group underwent a six-week training program that integrated imagery and visualization techniques with traditional football training, while the control group received only traditional training.Skill performance was assessed before and after the training period using standardized football skill tests. To analyze the data, paired t-tests were employed to evaluate pre- and post-training differences within each group at a 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that the experimental group showed significantly greater improvement in football skills compared to the control group. These findings suggest that integrating mental training techniques, such as imagery and visualization, with traditional physical training can effectively enhance skill performance in school-level football players. Statistical analysis confirmed that the observed improvements were not due to chance, thereby supporting the effectiveness of the combined training approach. Keywords: Dribbling, Passing, Shooting