Combined effects of video self-modeling and preferred music on motor skill acquisition and psychological engagement in adolescent shot-put learning

This exploratory cluster-randomized pilot study investigated the individual and combined effects of Video Self-Modeling (VSM) and preferred music during warm-up on physical, technical, and psychological performance following a nine-week shot-put learning program in secondary school students. Eighty students, nested within four intact classes, were allocated to four conditions at the class level (one class per condition): neutral self-talk with no music (control), VSM only, preferred music only (PM), and combined VSM plus preferred music (CVSMPM). Shot-put distance, technical execution, rating of perceived exertion, feeling scale, and situational motivation (SIMS) were assessed. Physical performance improved significantly in all groups. Because randomization occurred at the class level with a single class per condition, intervention and class-level effects cannot be statistically separated; results are reported as descriptive contrasts. Descriptive contrast analysis showed medium-to-large effect-size differences favoring the combined intervention over control on physical and technical performance at formative (0.79 < d < 1.50) and summative assessments (0.62 < d < 1.32). Feeling-scale scores increased with large-to-very-large effects in CVSMPM and PM (1.34 < d < 2.02), and situational motivation improved with medium-to-large effects in CVSMPM (0.87 < d < 1.69) and PM (0.79 < d < 1.21). CVSMPM showed the most consistent pattern of medium-to-large effect-size differences in motor skill acquisition, technical proficiency, and psychological engagement relative to the other conditions. Given the cluster design and exploratory analyses, these findings should be regarded as preliminary and hypothesis-generating.