Abstract:
The purposes of this study were to investigate and compare the usage of attention focus strategies of high achievement and low achievement male marathoners. The samples were 166 male marathoners participated in the Jombueng marathon competition and finished the race. They were divided into two groups of 83 high achievement marathoners and 83 low achievement marathoners. The questionnaires constructed by the researcher, having the item objective congruence index of .93 and the reliability coefficient of .99, were used as the tool of this study. The collected data were, then, analyzed by SPSS/PC[superscript +] : Statistical Package for the Social Sciences/Personal Computer Plus, in terms of mean, standard deviation, and t-test. The results were as follows : 1. High achievement male marathoners used associative attention focus strategies more frequently than dissociative attention focus strategies. The most frequent used associative strategies were the attention to the pacing, the attention to the movement of both feet, and the attention to the breathing. 2. Low achievement male marathoners used dissociative attention focus strategies more frequently than associative attention focus strategies. The most frequent used dissociative strategies were the attention to the environment, the attention to the spectators, and the attention to the distance. 3. In comparing the usage of attention focus strategies of high achievement and low achievement male marathoners, it revealed that : 3.1 High achievement male marathoners used associative attention focus strategies more frequently than low achievement male marathoners, significantly at the .05 level. 3.2 Low achievement male marathoners used dissociative attention focus strategies more frequently than high achievement male marathoners, significantly at the .05 level.