ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to analyse the effects of exercise imagery on athletic performance of athletes in University of Benin. It sought to establish the relationship between exercise imagery and sport performance of athletes, difference between exercise imagery and sport performance based on age, gender and factors that affect exercise imagery use. This study employed the descriptive survey research design, utilized structured questionnaire and statistical analysis to collect and analyse data. To guide the research, three (3) research questions were raised with one hypothesized and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study was 194 student athletes which was obtained using the proportionate stratified sampling technique. The researcher stratified the university of Benin into twelve (12) strata from the sport based on the different sports namely: Volleyball, Hockey, Basetball, Teakwando, Judo, Karate, Swimming, Handball, Football, Badminton Table tennis, Tennis and Athletics. Thereafter, simple random sampling technique was used in selecting 50% of the population in order to get a sample size of 99 student athletes. The findings of this research based on the research questions and corresponding hypotheses tested revealed the following: athletes of the university of Benin will report a significant differences with using exercise imagery, athletes at the University of Benin will report using a variety of Imagery techniques, athletes at the University of Benin will report a significant relationship between exercise imagery and sports performance. It was concluded that there was a relationship between exercise imagery and sport performance and as such, with the use of exercise imagery, athletes would perform better, and be the best they can be. Therefore, exercise imagery alongside physical training was recommended.
