A Narrative Study on the Preparation Period for the Performance Improvement of the Winner of TAEKWONDO Demonstration Competitions

This study examines the empirical meaning of the winners of the breaking events at taekwondo demonstration competitions through these narratives, identifies the psychological characteristics of the winners through the psychological technology model of Vealey(1988), and captures the stories in the winning experiences. The pur-pose is to share ways to improve the performance and to provide the necessary information for the psychological training of the field leaders and athletes through the psychological characteristics of the elite athletes of the taekwondo demonstration competitions. Participants for the narrative research were selected through the purposed sampling, and four athletes who had won the championship in the last three years were selected and interviewed from the Taekwondo Hanmadang competition and university president s flag competitions organized by the Korea National Sport Uni-versity and Yongin University. First, in the preparation for the competition, the basic techniques were repeated practice, strategic composi-tion, basic physical strength, diet control, and protective mats. Basic techniques included self-efficacy, and psy-chological techniques included stress management, image training through relaxation, motor-sensory image training, inner mental training, and leadership, encouragement, conditioning, and communication. Second, in the stories of the competition venue, repeated practice appeared as a basic technique among psy-chological techniques. Self-efficacy and sports confidence were shown as basic skills, and during the practice process, mental image training, subjective goals, cognitive strategies, internal mental training, self-talk, and ob-jective goals were shown as psychological techniques. Interpersonal orientation was a facilitation technique, and performance technique included adaptation to the environmental factors, strategic analysis, and focus.