In this study, we investigated the benefits of differential psychotherapeutic
intervention techniques on the modification of autonomic competence and its
impact on the visual reaction ability of young competitive netball players.
Thirty-six young female netball players with an age range of 18–24 years
were recruited. Upon baseline evaluation of psychomotor (reaction time);
physiological (resting heart-rate and VO2max) and psychobiological (Sc
components: latency, amplitude and recovery time) indices, we categorised
the subjects into three groups: Group I (control group in which the subjects
did not receive any intervention), Group II (experimental group in which the
subjects received abbreviated progressive muscle relaxation (APMR)
training) and Group III (experimental group in which the subjects received
imagery-based relaxation intervention (IRT) training). The subjects from the
experimental groups (Group I and Group II) were subjected to their respective
interventions (APMR and IRT) for 24 sessions following the protocol, viz.,
20 min/day, 2 days/week for 12 weeks). After six weeks of intervention, we
conducted mid-term evaluation on all of the aforementioned parameters that
had been determined during baseline evaluation. Following this, intervention
sessions were continued using the same protocol for six more weeks. At the
end of twelfth week, we conducted post-intervention assessment on all
psychological, psychomotor and psychobiological variables to verify the
effect of training on the dependent measures. Based on the results, we found
that there are improvements in various parameters during the mid-term
evaluation and post-intervention analysis, which can be rationally attributed
to the differential therapeutic interventions introduced to the subjects of the
experimental groups. The results suggest that both of the intervention
techniques facilitate in improving the reaction ability whereas our in-depth
analysis clarifies that netball players with a relatively lower phasic Sc but
with higher extent of amplitude, had faster recovery which will be highly
beneficial since they are able to regulate their task-focus well enough to yield
faster agile reaction performance.