THE EFFECTS OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FOCUS ATTENTION ON THE STANDING LONG JUMP AMONG HIGH SCHOOL FEMALE ATHLETES

C. De Jong, M. DeBeliso

Abstract


Coaches and trainers often use verbal cues to help players improve their sport performance and training quality. The type of verbal instructions implemented by a coach may influence how players execute certain tasks. External and internal focus attention are verbal ques that may help athletes improve performance in various tasks such as running and jumping. Purpose: This study attempted to determine if implementing external focus attention ques (EFAQ) improved standing long jump (SLJ) performance when compared to implementing internal focus attention ques (IFAQ). Methods: Female (n=14) high school soccer players completed three testing sessions where three trials of the SLJ were collected (3 sessions with 3 trials each). Prior to each testing session a dynamic warmup was implemented to prepare the participants for the subsequent SLJ trials. During the initial test session, the coach/investigator provided no attention ques (NQ) prior to the SLJ trials. During the other two testing sessions the coach provided either an EFAQ or IFAQ prior to the SLJ trials. Second and third testing session were carried out in a randomized repeated measures fashion. The testing sessions occurred on three different days at the beginning of the week over three weeks. The best SLJ score from each testing session was used for statistical analysis. A paired t-test was used to compare the SLJ scores between the sessions. Gain scores and effect size (EF) differences between the NQ SLJ scores and the EFAQ and IFAQ conditions were also calculated. Results: The best SLJ scores for the test conditions were as follows: NQ=174.0±17.4, IFAQ=169.1±20.7 and EFAQ=178.2±16.4 (cms). The EFAQ SLJ scores were significantly greater than both the IFAQ and NQ SLJ scores (p<0.05). The IFAQ SLJ scores were significantly less than the NQ SLJ scores (p<0.05). The ES difference and gain score between the EFAQ and NQ were: 0.24 SD and 4.2±7.3 cms. The ES difference and gain score between the IFAQ and NQ were: -0.28 SD and -4.9±10.0 cms. Conclusion: Within the parameters of this study, EFAQ improves SLJ scores when compared to either NQ or IFAQ scenarios. Further, IFAQ appears to degrade SLJ performance when compared to a NQ scenario.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


external focus attention, standing long jump, high school, female, soccer

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ah Sue, R., Sevene, T., Berning, J., Adams, K.J., & DeBeliso, M. (2017). Determination of trials needed for measurement consistency of standing long jump in female collegiate volleyball athletes: A brief report, International Journal of Sports Science, 7(1), 1-5.

AlTarawneh, G., and Thorne, S. (2017). A pilot study exploring spreadsheet risk in scientific research. arXiv [cs.CY]. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1703.09785. May 2020.

Baechle, T. R., & Earle, R. W. (2008). Essentials of strength training and conditioning (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Bertollo, M., Fronso, S. D., Filho, E., Lamberti, V., Ripari, P., Reis, V. M., . . . Robazza, C. (2015). To focus or not to focus: is attention on the core components of action beneficial for cycling performance? The Sport Psychologist, 29(2), 110-119.

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

Coker, C. (2018). Kinematic effects of varying adolescents attentional instructions for standing long jump. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 125(6), 1093-1102.

Hebert, E. R., & Williams, B. M. (2017). Effects of three types of attentional focus on standing long jump performance. Journal of Sport Behavior, 40(2), 156–170.

Hill, A., Schücker, L., Hagemann, N., & Strauß, B. (2017). Further evidence for an external focus of attention in running: looking at specific focus instructions and individual differences. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 39(5), 352–365.

Kershner, A. L., Fry, A. C., & Cabarkapa, D. (2019). Effect of internal vs. external focus of attention instructions on countermovement jump variables in NCAA Division I student-athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 33(6), 1467–1473.

Lohse, K., Sherwood, D. E., & Healy, A. (2009). Unpublished data. Colorado: University of Boulder.

Marchant, D., Greig, M., & Scott, C. (2009). Attentional focusing instructions influence force production and muscular activity during isokinetic elbow flexions. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 23(8), 2358–2366.

McNevin, N. H., Shea, C. H., & Wulf, G. (2003). Increasing the distance of an external focus of attention enhances learning. Psychological Research, 67(1), 22-29.

Miller, T. (2012). NSCA’s guide to tests and assessments. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Pascua, L. A. M., Wulf, G., & Lewthwaite, R. (2015). Additive benefits of external focus and enhanced performance expectancy for motor learning. Journal of Sports Sciences, 33(1), 58–66.

Porter, J. M., Ostrowski, E. J., Nolan, R. P., & Wu, W. F. (2010). Standing long-jump performance is enhanced when using an external focus of attention. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(7), 1746-1750.

Reid C., Dolan M., & DeBeliso M. (2017). The reliability of the standing long jump in NCAA track and field athletes. International Journal of Sports Science, 7(6), 233-238.

Tsetseli, M., Zetou, E., Vernadakis, N., & Michalopoulou, M. (2016). The effect of internal and external focus of attention on game performance in tennis. Acta Gymnica, 46(4), 162–173.

Vassil, K., & Bazanovk, B. (2012). The effect of plyometric training program on young volleyball players in their usual training period. Journal of Human Sport & Exercise, 7(1), S34–S40.

Wulf, G., Dufek, J. S., Lozano, L., & Pettigrew, C. (2010). Increased jump height and reduced EMG activity with an external focus. Human Movement Science, 29(3), 440–448.

Wulf, G., & McNevin, N. H. (2003). Simply distracting learners is not enough: more evidence for the learning benefits of an external focus of attention. European Journal of Sport Science, 3(5), 1–13.

Yamada, M., Diekfuss, J., and Raisbeck, L., (2020). Motor behavior literature fails to translate: A preliminary investigation into coaching and focus of attention in recreational distance runners. International Journal of Exercise Science, 13(5), 789- 801.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejpe.v6i6.3218

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2020 C. De Jong, M. DeBeliso

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2015 - 2023. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science (ISSN 2501 - 1235) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).