Volume 18, Issue s1 - Special Issue: Imagery Use in Esports; Issue Editor: Sandra E. Moritz

This article presents the Applied Model of Deliberate Imagery Use for Esports. The model is a translation from the Applied Model of Deliberate Imagery Use for Sport, Dance, Exercise and Rehabilitation (Cumming, J., & Williams, S. E. (2013). Introducing the revised applied model of deliberate imagery use for sport, dance, exercise, and rehabilitation. Movement & Sport Sciences, 82 , 69–81 Martin, K. A., Moritz, S. E., & Hall, C. R. (1999). Imagery use in sport: A literature review and applied model. The Sport Psychologist, 13 , 245–268). Each component of the model is described with examples relevant to esports. How the model can be used for imagery intervention and application, and suggestions for future research are also included.

Objectives This paper highlights how the practice of mental imagery, which is effective in helping elite athletes enhance their performance for competition in traditional sports, is transferable to esports athletes. Methods This paper will provide an overview of a profile of esports athletes and the challenges they face, a tool to assess their level of proficiency with the successful use of mental imagery, and suggestions on how they might incorporate mental imagery into their preparation and competition routines. Results Esports athletes can benefit from using mental imagery to raise their level of performance and address any stressors or difficulties they might encounter during preparation and competition. Mental imagery is ideal to use as a foundational practice to improve other mental skills such as focus, self-regulation, positive self-talk, and resiliency. Conclusions Gamers who are interested in participating, or already involved, in esports would benefit from developing an individualized mental imagery plan and working with a mental performance professional to help them assess, develop, and evaluate their proficiency in the use of mental imagery skills and outcomes.

For esport athletes to effectively use imagery and experience its many benefits, they must develop a collection of skills referred to as imagery ability. Layered stimulus response training (LSRT) is an evidence-based technique informed by bioinformational theory to improve how easily someone can form rich and vivid images that more closely approximate the real-life situation. In turn, having a better ability to generate and control clear and vivid images is associated with better performance and optimal mental and emotional states. The aim of this paper is to explain how sport psychologists can guide esport athletes through cycles of LSRT, which involves imaging, evaluating, reflecting, and then developing images in progressive layers of different stimulus, response, and meaning propositions. Aids to image generation and other variations of LSRT as well as future research opportunities for applying LSRT to esport are also discussed.

The PETTLEP model of imagery developed by Holmes, P. S., & Collins, D. J. (2001. The PETTLEP approach to motor imagery: A functional equivalence model for sport psychologists. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 13 , 60–83) is used to guide mental skills practitioners and researchers when designing mental imagery interventions for performance enhancement. The PETTLEP acronym represents Physical, Task, Timing, Learning, Emotion, and Perspective aspects of mental images. Using the PETTLEP model to guide imagery optimizes the effectiveness of the imagery.

Cognitive general imagery includes game plans, strategies, and routines. Mental imagery of strategies of play can decrease reaction time and lead to better decision making, ultimately resulting in enhanced performance.

The purpose of this article is to provide strategies for using imagery to build confidence in esport athletes. Because confidence is a belief and strongly influenced by success and failure, mental training using imagery should be designed to create and sustain an agile mindset to accept events that shake confidence and enable athletes to respond productively to adapt and restore self-belief. Esport athletes should start small with short but frequent sessions of polysensory imagery practice of simple skills and strategies to build imagery skill and confidence. Imagery practice should be similar to competition, in terms of physical posture, setting, and equipment. Confidence-building imagery strategies include creating and rehearsing optimal performance plans as well creating imagery scripts for productive responses to mistakes, losing, tilting, and worrying about the skills and decision-making of teammates. Uses of imagery can be periodized to optimally develop confident performance and responses, prepare for specific opponents or tournaments, and assess prior performances using a growth mindset to enhance self-belief.

The popularity and commercial success of videogames in the current era has given rise to a new type of competition: electronic sports (or esports). Researchers have proposed that esports players would benefit greatly from the applied sport psychology work typically conducted with traditional athletes and more specifically from evidence-based interventions. Imagery interventions have proven beneficial for the traditional athlete at managing anxiety in competitive settings, and in fact League of Legends players have noted the importance of mental skills, including imagery, to achieving optimal performance. The aim of the current paper is to provide practitioners with an imagery intervention specifically designed for managing anxiety in League of Legends players. Three 30-min workshops are described wherein the practitioner follows the three phases of Psychological Skills Training; education, acquisition and practice.

This article focused on the recent interest in VR in sport and how this technology can and can not help Esport athletes. Summarizing that VR is likely not a tool needed in esports, the authors highlight ways that Esport athletes can incorporate imagery into their first-person perspective gaming film review in a way that increased their psychological skills and performance.

With the growing popularity of esports, performance psychology consultants – and players themselves – are looking at how esports athletes can perform better. Many esports are team-based, meaning that performance depends not just on an individual’s skill level, but on how well each individual works with their teammates. While several group dynamics processes have been identified in esports settings that could play a role in team performance, these processes may also affect individuals. Esports athletes can use imagery to simulate partner and team interactions to help improve their individual performance, in turn helping their team succeed. This article will outline relevant group dynamics processes that affect esports teams and individuals, discuss how esports athletes can combine imagery with group dynamics, and close with several recommendations for using imagined teammates to enhance effort and performance.

New esports teams are popping up all of the time and they all need a good coaching staff, including specialists. For the benefit of esports coach education, this article provides a brief summary of the conditions that must be present for learning to take place, the various teaching methods available to coaches, and best practices in guiding athlete performance. The final section shows how coaches can facilitate imagery use with athletes.