Abstract
The purpose of the study was to test the effects of attentional focus on baseball batting performance against real live pitching using highly skilled batters. Previous experiments were conducted in a controlled laboratory setting, rather than an applied setting. Participants (14 males, ages 18-25) were randomly selected into two groups, an experimental and a control group. and were instructed to hit baseballs thrown by the batting practice pitcher into the field of play as they would in a game. Both groups took part in an attentional focus intervention, however the experimental group’s intervention was highlighted with external focus instructions and the control was given only facilitation instructions. Even though results were not statistically significant, positive results were trending towards significance. Future research is needed in this field.