The paper analyses the differences in the way young athletes who pursue different kinds of sports use different types of mental images. The hypothesis of association between the image types athletes use and the specific requirements of the sport they pursue was confirmed. Age differences in application of different types of images were found. The association between the athletes’ image application characteristics and their imagination development levels was established. The authors propose a complex programme of imagery application development for athletes and provide evidence of its effectiveness in highboard diver and football player samples.