: The purpose of this study was to study the effect of relaxation and mental imagery (mastery imagery) on self – efficacy and in tae kwon do athletes. 92 tekvando (15-18 years old) athletes were randomly assigned to three groups: relaxation training (30 athletes), imagery training (30 athletes) and control group (32 athletes) in Ardebil. Group 1 performed mental imagery in 8 sessions (session1: pre-test and primary mental imagery, session 2 : mental imagery about , session 3 and 4 : mental imagery about mastery, sessions 5,6 and 7: mental imagery about failed-mastery and session 8 : post-test), and group 2 performed progressive relaxation in 8 sessions (session 1 : pre-test and primary relaxation, sessions 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 : Jacobson progressive relaxation and session 8 : Post-test). But 3 group (control) did not perform any training. The instruments were Sherer self-efficacy (17 items) and (20 items) scales. Results of ANOVA indicated a meaningful difference between pre-and post-test scores for self-efficacy and in the three groups (P<0.01).
)