Effect of Self-talk on Pentanque Shooting Accuracy

The background of this research is the petanque precision shooting athletes who are inconsistent in obtaining scores. Accuracy is an important part of petanque, especially in the precision shooting numbers, so that it is necessary to have a mental training process that can contribute to the athlete's ability to improve their accuracy. The purpose of this research is to see the effect of a mental training in the form of self-talk on improving shooting accuracy in petanque. Looking at the objectives of this study, the pre-experimental method with the one group pre-test and post-test design has been used. The instrumental test in this study is a shooting test of 20 athletes from FIPJP (Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal). The results of this research indicate that the test results are t = 2.690, with db = 19 and the number Sig. (2-tailed) or p-value = 0.014 <0.05. From this result, it can be concluded that self-talk practice can significantly improve the accuracy of the shooting petanque. The implication of self-talk is self-control. Athletes appear to be better able to control arm movements, control emotions, and regulate breathing when shooting. This can be seen from the increase in the scores of the athletes.


Introduction
Petanque is one of the developing sports in Indonesia with a number of achievements, ranging from sports events at the regional to the international levels [1]. This sport is easily to play for all ages [2]. There are many competition types, such as shooting men/women, single men/women, double men/women, triple men/women, double mix and triple mix [3]. The provision distances in the precision shooting number start from a distance of 6 meters, 7 meters, 8 meters and 9 meters with the achievement points that are ranging from 0, 1, 3, and 5 for each successful shooting [4]. For getting maximum points in the petanque precision shooting numbers, every athlete who is already calm and focused must have the ability to shoot accurately [5], [6]. In order to increase shooting accuracy, an athlete must be more focused. It is necessary for coaches to implement mental exercise on the athletes, one of which can be done through mental self-talk training [7], [8], [9].
Self-talk is a mental exercise that can have an impact on athletes to control their thoughts to achieve their goals [10], even this self-talk is one of the actions that can change or control behavior [11], negative thinking becomes positive [12]. In addition, self-talk can also have an impact on increasing the concentration of athletes in shooting throws [9]. Looking at the explanation above, the ability to change negative thinking and behavior in an athlete is one of the psychological aspects an athlete must have by applying a form of mental exercise in the form of self-talk. From several previous research results, it is proven that self-talk training improves athlete performance, but so far there has not been an application of mental training in the form of self-talk in petanque, especially precision shooting numbers. So the purpose of this study is to see the effect of self-talk on the shooting accuracy in petanque sports.

Self-talk
The athletes' self-talk is usually about things that have happened, as a reflection or evaluation of events and actions they have done before or that they have just done, things that have happened or been done by opponents, to provide direction and encouragement, or expressing influence and cognition, for example, 'good', 'let's go now', 'can't concentrate', 'I'm fed up', or things that will happen, in an anticipatory way, 'I will win this trophy', 'this will hurt'. It's a normal thing to happen, and it can either be stealthy or shouted out, inherently or strategically. In simple words, self-talk refers to all the things that individuals say to themselves, to stimulate and strengthen, direct and evaluate events and actions.
The importance of self-talk in improving performance is also evidenced by the results of research conducted by Zourbanos et al, which states that "the results confirmed that self-talk can be an effective performance-enhancing strategy for young children" [13]. Other studies suggesting that self-talk can help improve athletic performance are illustrating "athletes and coaches believe that self-talk is an intervention that enhances sporting performance and various psychological states, such as confidence" [14].
Two important components of self-talk sports are instructions to make better moves and to motivate oneself to look better. A study reveals "evidence that self-talk can improve motor performance using a variety of tasks and settings" [15].

Shooting Petanque Accuracy
Throwing or swinging is a technical skill that Pé tanque athletes desperately need. The throwing skill that a Pé tanque athlete must have is the underarm throw.
In Pé tanque and horseshoes, an object is projected with an underarm throw to a spatial target placed at ground level. The motion is produced at the shoulder joint and the distance of throw is critical for success. The speed, angle and heigh of release all contribute to the distance of the throw. When the height and angle of release are fixed, distance increase as the angle of release increase to approximately 45 o and the decrease at larger angles [16] The effectiveness of shooting can largely be seen from its accuracy. "Release velocity and accuracy are vital components of throwing performance" [17]. It takes continuous practice to increase the effectiveness of shooting in order to achieve high scores. In many of these tasks accuracy is important, and accuracy is achieved by controlling the direction or speed of the movement, or both [16].
Shooting petanque belongs to the characteristics of accuracy that has an end point, because the iron ball that is thrown must directly hit the target ball or fall on the circle and bounce off the target ball which is arranged and made the target with a horizontal position and a certain distance from the place of throwing. Like the putting technique in golf, pé tanque requires athletes to be careful in throwing or swinging, because this will have an impact on the consistency of the swing and the choice of ball trajectory. "How accurately the task is performed will subsequently impact game-play, and could ultimately influence the result of the match. In golf, the line and distance from the hole are key indicators of accuracy" [18].

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of a mental self-talk training on the results of the shooting accuracy in the petanque.

Research Design
The research method used in this study is a pre-experimental research method with a one group pre-test post-test design, because no control over extraneous variables [19] as shown on Figure 1.

Research Population and Sample
The population of petanque shooting athletes in the Bandung Raya area is 20 people, so all of them are used as samples in this study [20] [21].

Pretest Measurements
Pretest measurements were performed on 3 August 2020. Total number of shots are 20 shots, 4 shots at each target set up. One at each shooting position 6 m; 7 m; 8 m; 9m, with maximum score 100 point.

Interventional Procedure
Self-talk treatment was given for 8 weeks, with a total of 24 sessions carried out for 3 days each week as shown on table 1 [22]. The duration of the training program calculation has taken into account of the athletes' condition that has no understanding of the content and purpose of the self-talk training. Besides being given a self-talk training intervention, the sample was also given technical training that had been adapted for mental training purposes. The technical training carried out adjusts to the shooting target that the sample will face during the match (Figure 2).    The data analysis that has been used for this research was the paired samples t-test using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) (V. 22, IBM Corporation) was used in data analysis as shown on results.  Based on table 4, One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test, the output results are obtained in the Asymp section. Sig. (2-tailed) in the pre-test group of 0.611 and in the post-test group of 0.475 or it can be written as the probability value (p-value) = 0.611> 0.05 and 0.475> 0.05. This means that the results of the shooting petanque at each test period have been normally distributed. Based on table 5, the results of the analysis in the Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variances table have the value of F = 0.363; db1 = 1; db2 = 38, and p-value = 0.550> 0.05. This means that the data in the pre-test and post-test groups have the same or homogeneous variance.

Results
Based on table 6, the results of the analysis of the hypothesis test using the Paired Samples Test, the average difference value is 5.1, which means that it gives a significant positive price after being given the self-talk exercise, the score for the accuracy of the shooting petanque is higher than before. This table also shows the statistical values are the score for t = 2690, with db = 19 and the Sig. (2-tailed) or p-value = 0.014 <0.05. It can be concluded that self-talk practice has a significant effect on increasing the accuracy of the shooting petanque.

Discussion
The research shown that self-talk practice can improve the shooting accuracy with the acquisition of t = 2690, with db = 19 and the Sig. (2-tailed) or p-value = 0.014 <0.05. These results are in line with the research stating that self-talk helps the athlete's performance since it has a significant effect on increasing motivation and self-confidence and helps prepares the athletes for competition [26]. Many other studies have indicated that self-talk exercise is one of the methods for increasing the athlete's self-confidence and efforts to improve performance [7], [10]; a strategy that is considered to be the most appropriate technique in improving the performance of the athletes [8], [27]; to control emotions and concentration [28]; and also helps the athletes reduce distractions to be more focused [27].
Other studies have concluded that a self-talk exercise can be applied to athletes of the individual/single type competition to improve the cognitive behaviour which will have an impact later on improving the techniques in the sports with the characteristics in the form of accuracy [9]; it characterised by the athlete's ability to control the motoric body to do the desired movement [29]. A self-talk practice can also increase the athlete's motivation when shooting [30], so that the athletes are more focused and have a better accuracy when shooting.
The accuracy in petanque is an important aspect in winning [31], [7], because the point calculation is done based on the shooting results. Therefore, it requires athletes to have a high level of accuracy in shooting, and in order to improve this, one of the given mental exercises is self-talk [32]. For the sports which require high level of accuracy, its athletes must have a good level of concentration when competing, especially for the athlete's precision shooting [33], [34].
A well-controlled self-talk training session was given to all the athletes, especially those who have not yet experienced a mental training program, so that negative self-talk would not occur. The field observations show that habitual complaining when shooting results were inaccurate lead to a hindrance in the athletes' performance. If done continuously it could cause anxiety and decrease the athlete's performance [35]. One should guide athletes to become aware of their own self-talk, which is an important step in self-talk interventions [28]. Athletes should be encouraged to practice positive self-talk, so that it can a) increase self-compensation and effort, b) increase attention and alertness, c) manage anxiety and affect recovery from injury, and d) have a profound effect on psychological preparation in the face of the upcoming match [36].
Although this study did not focus on one type of self-talk, the researchers found a common thread; this could be used as a reference for trainers to finally start providing self-talk training methods to precision shooting petanque athletes. Athletes tend to have a higher shooting accuracy when they perform instructional self-talk; this is in line with the research stating that instructional self-talk in passing and shooting leads to high accuracy in performance and is more suitable for simple tasks rather than complex tasks [37]. When viewed from the basic techniques performed, throwing movements in petanque tend to be included in simple motion tasks, so the application of instructional self-talk will be very useful.
Finally, from this study it can be concluded that exercising self-talk can improve the shooting accuracy of petanque athletes. However, although this study shows its results to be in accordance with the research objectives, ascertaining the exact effect of self-talk on the accuracy of shooting petanque requires more self-talk specific research to be conducted.

Conclusions
Based on the results of the research and discussion, it can be concluded that mental self-talk training increases the accuracy of shooting petanque; this is evidenced by the initial and final data obtained in the study which show an increase in shooting accuracy results. Therefore, we advise trainers of petanque to provide self-talk exercises to their athletes in an effort to improve shooting accuracy.