Self-efficacy and movement variability of olympic-level springboard divers

Abstract

This study examined the relations between movement variability, self-efficacy, self-evaluative reactions and expert evaluations of springboard dives in Olympic level athletes. A particular focus was to examine the variability of preparatory movement patterns as a function of dive difficulty and the diver's self-efficacy. The analyses revealed that variability of most kinematic parameters of the dive approach varied as a function of the degree of difficulty of the dive. The greater the degree of difficulty of the dive the smaller the movement variability of the dive approach. Self-efficacy also varied inversely as a function of the degree of difficulty of the dive. Furthermore. self-efficacy and accuracy of self-evaluative reactions increased as the trials progressed in practice. Consistency was also found between the athlete's self-perceptions and experts' evaluations of diving performance. There appears to be a coherent relation between skilled divers self-efficacy and actual performance that varies even within the time course of a single practice session. Results are discussed in terms of how self-efficacy influences consistency in skilled performance in high degree of difficulty dives among elite, olympic level athletes.