ABSTRACT
Goal-setting is perceived to be an essential performance enhancement skill by many researchers (Burton, 1993; Harris & Williams, 1993). More precisely, it is believed to help athletes focus their attention, remain intense and persistent, increase their self-confidence, and control anxiety (Burton, 1993). Gould (1998) also suggested that athletes set specific, measurable goals which are difficult, but realistic to achieve, to maximize their effects. Others have revealed that athletes’ performances can be additionally increased if they set shortand long-term goals (Harris & Williams, 1993), as well as performance goals, such as increasing their number of successful routines or perfecting problematic elements, as opposed to outcome goals, like defeating a given opponent or obtaining a certain score on an event (Burton, 1993).
