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Abstract

Competitive youth sports impose significant psychological demands, often leading to stress and maladaptive emotional regulation. Dispositional mindfulness protects against burnout, yet practical interventions for youth athletes are scarce. Breathwork and visualization offer a physiological gateway to emotional control, but their efficacy in this population is unclear. PURPOSE: This study examined the efficacy of a 12-week breathwork and visualization intervention on dispositional mindfulness and emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal vs. expressive suppression) in adolescent soccer players. METHODS: Twenty-seven athletes were initially recruited from Soccer Central San Antonio. Following 5 dropouts (1 intervention, 4 control), a final sample of 22 participants was analyzed. The Intervention group comprised U16 females (n = 11; age 14.6 ± 0.7 yrs) who underwent 12-week live-streamed breathing and visualization protocol (3 sessions/week) delivered in a coach-supervised classroom. The Waitlist Control group comprised U19 males (n = 11; age 16.9 ± 0.7 yrs). Participants completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) at baseline and post-intervention. One participant was excluded from the mindfulness analysis due to missing baseline data (final MAAS Intervention n = 10). Data were analyzed using 2 (Group) × 2 (Time) mixed ANOVAs. RESULTS: A highly significant Group × Time interaction was found for dispositional mindfulness (F(1, 19) = 10.12, p = 0.005, ηp² = 0.35). The U16 Intervention group (n = 10) significantly increased mindfulness scores (ΔM = +0.33), while the U19 Waitlist group showed a decline (ΔM = -0.19). Regarding emotion regulation (n = 11 for Intervention), a notable trend was observed for Expressive Suppression (F(1, 20) = 1.63, p = 0.21, ηp² = 0.08), where the Intervention group reduced their use of suppression strategies (ΔM = -0.28) compared to an increase in the Waitlist group (ΔM = +0.32). No significant interaction was found for Cognitive Reappraisal (p = 0.36). CONCLUSIONS: The 12-week breathwork and visualization protocol was robustly effective in enhancing trait mindfulness (p = 0.001) among U16 female athletes compared to U19 male controls. The data also suggests a potential benefit in reducing maladaptive expressive suppression. These findings support the integration of psychophysiological training as a potent mental health tool in competitive youth soccer programs.

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