The Development of Practice-based Audio Imagery to Reduce the

Anxiety Level Tennis Athlete

Abdul Alim

, Muhammad Yanuar Khilman

Sport Coaching Department, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Jl. Colombo No.1 Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Imagery, Audio Imagery, Levels of Anxiety-Based, Tennis Athlete

Abstract: This research aims to produce a product in the form of audio media to reduce the anxiety level tennis

athletes. Audio media is used to ease athlete and coach in the face of the game. The method of this research

is the research and development (Research and Development). Media audio imagery exercise development

to reduce the anxiety level tennis athlete is first validated by one expert material and one media expert. In

this study researchers use the 7 steps in carrying out development, as for the method of data retrieval

method using incidental sampling, namely the techniques in use for sampling based on accidental or

incidental damages against 30 athletes or students of UKM UNY. The results of research and development:

on the whole, the development of practice-based audio imagery to reduce the level of anxiety this tennis

athletes categorized worthy of use. Upon validation of the experts, the feasibility of the development of

media imagery audio-based exercises to reduce the anxiety level Athlete Tennis expert examiners include:

material by Mr. Komarudin amounted to 84.3% and by Mr. Media expert examiners Nawan Primasoni of

88.89%. From the trials of the products obtained the feasibility of 78.56%. Overall development of media-

based audio imagery exercise to reduce the level of anxiety this decent tennis athletes are used to evaluate

the guidelines and know the anxiety level tennis athlete.

1 INTRODUCTION

Tennis is a sport that is usually played between two

players or two pairs of players. Each player uses a

racket to hit the tennis ball. The aim of this game is

to hit the ball over the net and into the opponent’s

court so the opponent cannot hit the ball back. In

tennis, exercise aspect components are very

important in athlete’s maximum achievement in

court, whereas the aspect components include

physics, techniques, tactics, and mentality.

The physical aspect component of tennis

involves power, speed, power, balance, and athlete’s

agility. Techniques involve forehand, backhand,

smash, service, and volley. The tactical component

of tennis includes game zones, such as the baseline,

¾ court, the mind court, and the net. Based on phase

of play, it includes defending, rallying, and

attacking. However, in tennis the mentality aspect is

an important aspect in the main purpose of an

athlete’s practice, without mentality, other aspect

such as physics, tactics, and technique components

will not be delivered well, for example an athlete is

in good physical condition, has good playing tactics

and techniques but has a poor mentality, so the

athlete cannot apply his physics, techniques, or

tactics that could otherwise easily earn him victory,

but they could turn into weaknesses, resulting in

losing.

Coach becomes an important success factor of an

athlete’s practice in court, yet the limited athlete’s

mentality exercise instruments become an obstacle

in training athlete’s mentality especially athlete’s

anxiety before or towards the game. The minimum

instrumental factor or a coach reference in exercise

aspect is an important factor in exercise, therefore

coach is expected to train athletes with balanced

intensity among physical, technical, and tactical

practices in the court. In doing his role, a coach still

does not give enough component practice for

athletes whose mentality is imbalanced among the

physics, techniques, and tactics. Therefore, a coach

must understand and know the right practice aspects

for the athletes.

Thus, an athlete also needs to train his mentality

in order to have a stable mind during matches, in

which case an athlete’s anxiety usually comes before

or towards the match. It could be obvious that an

664

Alim, A. and Khilman, M.

The Development of Practice-based Audio Imagery to Reduce the Anxiety Level Tennis Athlete.

DOI: 10.5220/0009800506640668

In Proceedings of the 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science in conjunction with the 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports

(YISHPESS and CoIS 2019), pages 664-668

ISBN: 978-989-758-457-2

athlete is anxious during or prior to a match, such as

his tendency to use the toilet several times, hot and

cold sweat before playing, and being confused of

what to do before the game.

In the condition and situation of the court

during or prior to the match, calmness is a main

factor in athlete’s mentality. However, in reality

there are still many athletes who are nervous or

anxious before or towards the game. Among the

factors causing this anxiety are being afraid of the

opponents, not feeling confidence, being afraid of

the situation of the match or other things that worry

them.

This mental training is very important for

athletes in the court due to athlete’s lack of mental

development practice to prepare him during a match.

This could result in unstable anxiety, and reduce

athlete’s skills in the court. To overcome athlete’s

anxiety level in the court, audio-based imagery

method is used. Audio was chosen because it can

make the athletes happy to listen to some music,

games, and videos, so it will be easier to adjust the

athlete’s anxiety level. Audio became the right

choice because electronics become the first choice

for all groups of people in this global era, from

children to adults. There are some ways to overcome

anxiety in athletes. For example, by using their

favorite equipment, having their favorite drink or

snack, or listening to their favorite music. However,

the fact that there are still many athletes who feel

anxious describes a particular result because the

result is even achieved. With visualization, it is as

though someone were to make an abstract sketch of

the desired result.

Mental imagery is a process or an event when

an individual feels an object, an event, or even a

particular scene, even though the object, event, and

scene are not present to the senses during mental

imagery process (Richardson, 1969).

In order to understand the experience before the

match, individuals form a mental representation

related to their experience. Mental representation or

mental imagery process is an activity which involves

stimulus, senses, and memory. Eyes and ears which

receive information from stimuli are sent to visual

cortex and auditory cortex consecutively (Solso et

al., 2008).

Then it is sent again for the information received

in the frontal area of the brain to be processed

further to find out if a work describes an animate or

an inanimate object. While information processing is

on progress, the understood information will be go

into or stored in short term memory (STM) as a

transitory or temporary storage (Solso et al., 2008).

When a person feels that the information that he

has received is a happy experience or traumatic one

before or towards the game. Therefore, one of the

alternatives to overcome the problem is by audio-

based imagery practice. Mental imagery is

remembered instead of other experiences, so that the

information stored in STM will be rehearsed to be

then stored in long term memory (LTM) (Korn &

Johnson, 1983). LTM also functions as a human

skill to understand the past and use the information

to process “the present” or to relate past experiences

to current experiences.

Mnemonic technique is a technique of improving

storage and retaking information in memory (Solso

et al., 2008). It is from this process that human can

imagine or describe and retrieve past information or

event in memory and connect them with the present

or future events. This is in line with the definition of

mental imagery itself, which is a mental

representation.

Feeling anxious is a general condition faced by

anyone when they are about to face an important

thing, including athletes prior to matches. Anxiety

occurs because there are wrong images of how the

matches will be. Pictures of more powerful

opponents, poor physical condition, a big event or

how everybody expects too much can cause anxiety.

Therefore, the research Audio-Based Imagery

practice Development to Decrease Anxiety Level of

Tennis Athletes in the Special Region of Yogyakarta

is conducted.

2 METHOD

2.1 Research Type

This is a Research and Development (R&D)

research. The steps in this research are adapted from

Sugiyono’s research consisting of 13 steps.

However, due to limited time and fund, the

researchers only adopted 7 steps in line with the

purpose of the developmental research. The

instruments used are assessments and

questionnaires.

2.2 Research Time and Place

This research was conducted on October 17 -18,

2018 which took place in indoor tennis court of

UNY and on FIK campus of west UNY.

The Development of Practice-based Audio Imagery to Reduce the Anxiety Level Tennis Athlete

665

2.3 Research Target/Subject

The trial test subjects were students of UNY, and

tennis athletes of UKM UNY. The subjects in this

research were selected through incidental sampling.

The technique used to select samples based on

coincidence, which means that anyone who sees the

researchers could be used as samples providing that

the researchers find the person suitable as a data

source (Sugiyono, 2015).

2.4 Research Instrument and Data

Collection Technique

Research instrument is one of the devices used to

measure a natural or a social phenomenon which is

observed (Sugiyono, 2014). This research used 2

data collection techniques:

2.4.1 Testing and Observation

A media expert is needed in order to obtain

credibility result from audio-based practice

development media on athlete’s anxiety for this

product repair. The data analysis technique by

Material Expert and Media Expert, as well as

respondents are as follows: (1) Material Expert and

Media Expert Credibility, (2) Qualitative testing and

observation data analysis technique. The result of

the test is explained with data of trial test and direct

observation result.

2.4.2 Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a data collecting technique by

giving a series of questions or written statements for

the respondents to answer (Sugiyono, 2014). There

are two different ways of giving responses: (1)

Open-ended question is a type of questionnaire

written in such a way that the respondents could give

their own responses as needed. (2) Close-ended

question is a type of questionnaire written in such a

way that the respondents only need to give a check

mark (√) in the corresponding column or space.

Data collecting in this developmental research

used both open-ended and close-ended questions,

with suggestion column provided in the following

page. The questionnaires were given to lecturers of

learning media expert, material expert, students of

UNY, and Tennis athletes of UKM UNY. This

research used check list (√) questionnaire in the

answer column (strongly disagree/ disagree/ agree/

strongly agree).

2.5 Data Analysis Technique

The data obtained through trial test was classified

into two, quantitative data and qualitative data. The

quantitative data was in numbers, collected from the

questionnaires. While the qualitative data was

suggestions for this research using descriptive

statistics, with statements ‘not credible, less credible,

quite credible, credible’ which are converted to

quantitative data on the scale of 4, with scores from

1 to 4.

Table 1: Material expert and media expert credibility

percentage category.

No. Percentage Category

1 < 40 % Not Credible

2 40 % - 55 % Less Credible

3 56 % - 75 % Credible

Respondent Data Analysis, Qualitative data

analysis technique in this research used descriptive

statistics, using statements Strongly Agree, Agree,

Disagree, Strongly Disagree, which are converted

into quantitative fata on a scale of 4, with scores

from 1 to 4.

Table 2: Credibility percentage category.

No Percentage Category

1 < 24,9 % Strongly Disagree

2 25 % - 49,9 % Disagree

3 50 % - 74,5 % Agree

4 75 % - 100 % Strongly Agree

Source: (Suharsimi Arikunto, 2010)

It could be stated mathematically with

assessment percentage equation (Sugiyono, 2009):

∑

𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟

∑

𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑜

𝑓

𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠

𝑥 100%

(1)

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Product Validation Data by

Material Expert

The Material Expert as a validator of this research is

Komarudin, He is a Sports Coaching Education

lecturer at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. The

researchers chose him as material expert because of

his excellent competency in sports.

YISHPESS and CoIS 2019 - The 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science (YISHPESS

2019) in conjunction with The 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports (CoIS 2019)

666

Data collecting by material expert was done on

July 27, 2018 by giving the initial product of audio-

based imagery practice development to reduce

athlete’s anxiety before a match along with the

assessment sheets in the form of questionnaires.

Validation data of material expert was obtained

by using Likert-scale questionnaire of 4 scales.

During the execution, the material expert tried to

read and examine the product and then gave

assessments, comments, and revision suggestions

related to media. The result of the credibility

assessment by the material expert can be seen in the

following:

Table 3: Material expert assessment result data

No Aspect Score Max.Score % Category

Material

Indicator

27 32 84.3% Credible

Total 27 32 84.3% Credible

3.2 Product Validation Result Data by

Material Expert

3.2.1 Phase 1

Media expert who becomes a validator in this

research is Nawan Primasoni, whose expertise is in

exercise media and is a lecturer in Sports Coaching

Education. Sports Science Faculty, Universitas

Negeri Yogyakarta.

Data collection by media expert was on July 24,

2018 by giving the initial product of audio-based

imagery practice development to reduce athlete’s

anxiety before a match along with the assessment

sheets in the form of questionnaires.

Validation data of material expert was obtained

by using Likert-scale questionnaire of 4 scales.

During the execution, the media expert tried to read

and examine the product and then gave assessments,

comments, and revision suggestions related to

media. The result of the credibility assessment by

the media expert can be seen in the following.

Table 4: Product validation result data by media expert

phase 1

No Aspect Score Max.Score % Category

Material

Indicator

28 32 87.5 % Credible

Total

28 32 87.5% Credible

The product revision is as follows:

(1) The creator’s voice, so there is no plagiarism.

(2) Creator to make closing or dedication at the end

of the work. (3) Give a picture and cover of the

creator in the background music.

3.2.2 Phase 2

The second phase of data collection was done on

October 19th 2018 by giving the revised product of

audio-based imagery practice development media to

reduce athlete’s anxiety before a match along with

the assessment sheets in the form of questionnaires.

Validation data of material expert was obtained

by using Likert-scale questionnaire of 4 scales.

During the execution, the media expert tried to read

and examine the product and then gave assessments,

comments, and revision suggestions related to

media.

Table 5: Product validation result data by media expert

phase 2

No Aspect Score Max.Score % Category

Material

Indicator

32 36 88.9 % Credible

Total

32 36 88.89% Credible

3.3 Discussion

In the product “Audio-Based Imagery practice to

Reduce Athlete’s Anxiety Level in the Court” are

guidelines, silence, and encouragement to overcome

athlete’s anxiety in the court.

The developed learning media product can be

used as an innovative step in learning by utilizing

the product. The strength of this audio-based

exercise media is that it can make it easy for athletes

to overcome anxiety in the court. This audio media

can be used anywhere and anytime according to the

athlete’s needs in the court, instead of manual

mental exercise or the previous method of exercise.

This method can also make it easy for coach to find

a mental exercise instrument for athletes during or

prior to the match. The developed media could be

used as one of the sources of exercise for athletes, so

this development of audio-based imagery practice is

expected to be beneficial as a method of exercise to

overcome athlete’s anxiety in the court. The

weakness of this product is that it is not easy for

coaches to use because this audio-based imagery

practice media is applied personally or individually

in a convenient situation and peaceful condition, and

this audio-based imagery practice media to reduce

athlete’s anxiety in court is still limited.

Even though this product is not the top primary

learning source, using the product "Audio-Based

The Development of Practice-based Audio Imagery to Reduce the Anxiety Level Tennis Athlete

667

Imagery Practice to Reduce Athlete's Anxiety Level

in Court" is expected to help overcome athlete's

anxiety problem during or prior to the match in

court.

4 CONCLUSION AND

SUGGESTION

4.1 Conclusion

Based on the credibility of the development research

and discussion, it can be concluded that: This

research has created a product “The Development of

Audio-Based Imaginary Exercise to Reduce Tennis

Athlete’s Anxiety in the Court”. The product

credibility was validated by a material expert and a

media expert. On validation, the Material Expert

gave an assessment under the criterium “Credible”

with a percentage of 84.3% while the media expert

gave a 87.5% stated it to be “Credible”. After it was

deemed credible for testing, this product received

assessment from the athletes/pupils and students of

UKM UNY through questionnaires. Overall, the

quality assessment for this product was 78.56% and

was deemed “Strongly Agree” and credible for use.

Therefore, it can be concluded that this assessment

has produced “The Development of Audio-Based

Imagery Practice to Reduce Tennis Athlete’s

Anxiety in the Court” with the criterium “Credible”

to use.

4.2 Suggestions

Based on the media quality, limited research, and the

aforementioned conclusion, the researchers can give

some suggestions of further media development and

usage as follows: (1) The product Produk “The

Development of Audio-Based Imagery Practice to

Reduce Tennis Athlete’s Anxiety in the Court before

Match” can be used as a media to introduce and

explain to athletes and coaches about audio-based

practice for athlete’s anxiety in a more practical and

easier way. (2) Further research and development to

improve audio-based imagery method of practice to

reduce athlete’s anxiety level before match so it will

be better and more efficient in the future.

REFERENCES

Richardson, A., 1969. Mental Imagery, Philosophical

Issues About. In L. Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of

Cognitive.

http://www.imageryimagination.com/mipia.htm

(diakses pada tanggal 16 Oktober 2012).

Solso, R. L., Maclin, O. H., & Maclin, M. K., 2008.

Psikologi Kognitif: Edisi Kedelapan (terjemahan).

Mikael Rahardanto & Kristianto Batuaji (Alih

Bahasa). Erlangga. Jakarta.

Sugiyono, 2014. Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif Kualitatif

dan R & D. ALFABETA, CV. Bandung.

YISHPESS and CoIS 2019 - The 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science (YISHPESS

2019) in conjunction with The 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports (CoIS 2019)

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