De meditação à visualização mental: Desenvolvimento e avaliação de um programa de mindfulness e visualização mental em jovens jogadores de futebol

Abstract

Despite the undeniable positive impact of sports practice on young people, it can often also be a source of additional stress (Reeves et al., 2011). Thus, it has become increasingly relevant to implement skills development programs that provide athletes with a greater ability to cope with the adversities inherent in sports practice (Hut et al., 2023). Mental visualization has been widely used not only to help athletes manage stress and anxiety (Keech et al., 2021), but also to promote levels of motivation and satisfaction with sports practice (Koehn et al., 2022). In this context, mindfulness has also recently been highlighted as an effective strategy for promoting adjustment and well-being in athletes (Hut et al., 2021). Considering the potential of combining mindfulness with mental visualization (MV) (Fang et al., 2023), this dissertation presents an evaluation of the efficacy of an intervention program that combines mindfulness and mental visualization (MV) in sub-16 football players aged 15 to 16. Over 10 weeks, athletes participated in sessions integrating mindfulness and mental visualization with the aim of improving sports. For this purpose, a sample of 18 players was distributed into the intervention and control groups, and was assessed regarding their capacity for mindfulness, VM, perception of stress, motivation and satisfaction with life. After 8 sessions, the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in mental visualization competence. Furthermore, the results indicated a positive impact on players, both in the sports context and in other areas of their lives. This study emphasizes the relevance and innovation of the combined use of mindfulness and mental visualization in the development of psychological skills in young athletes. By integrating these two practices, it was possible not only to promote the MV capacity, but also to contribute to the well-being and emotional adjustment of athletes. The use of mindfulness, in particular, has been shown to be an innovative approach to mentally preparing athletes and optimizing the benefits of visualization.