The present study has been conducted to investigate the effects of self-talk on
free throw performance and the level of anxiety among male novice
basketball players. Forty-eight (48) male novice basketball players (22.27 ±
1.47 years) was selected. The participants were assigned into four matched
groups of twelve (12) participants: instructional self-talk (IST), motivational
self-talk (MST) and the combination of instructional and motivational
self-talk (CIMST) and control. Throw accuracy and anxiety’s level were
measured on a 5-point scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults
(STAI). Training protocol contains a pre-test and post-test to indicate the
intervention effect on anxiety level and free throw performance. The
participants compete against each other to get the highest score in post free
throw performance. The data were analyzed by using mixed between-within
subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA). The finding showed that state and
trait anxiety level of post-intervention was significantly lower than
pre-intervention in all groups (p