Athletes spend much of their time mentally and physically preparing for athletic competitions in hopes of improving playing performances. However, many athletes are inconsistent with their athletic performances due to anxiety, lack of self-confidence, and other barriers (Mamassis & Doganis, 2004). Athletes who experience sport related anxiety may also suffer from feelings of worthlessness, physical/emotional […]
Given the high demands of life in our fast moving society, we are all vulnerable to experiencing feelings of both stress and anxiety. Feelings of nervousness, worry and fear are therefore common symptoms, which are normal emotions to feel from time to time. Panic attacks, however, are more than just feelings of stress and anxiety. […]
Anxiety is both a psychological and physiological phenomenon. Anxiety is related to emotions such as fear, and negative thoughts such as not being able to cope. The physiological aspects of anxiety include sweating, not sleeping, feeling tense, headaches, raised blood pressure and problems with eating/digestive functions. What is Anxiety? Barlow (2002) defines anxiety as an […]
Unfortunately injury is a common threat when it comes to both elite and non-elite sport. How we cope with it may determine our path to either full recovery or re-injury. We often participate in major competition despite ‘having a niggle’ or carrying a larger injury and passing it off as nothing much (Lopez & colleagues, […]
In part one we looked at James Loehr’s (1982) model of the Ideal Performance State which gave us a brief insight into the power of the mind-body connection. We came to understand that fear is an emotion that we attach to a certain situation based purely on our perception of that situation or of a […]
Recently, I was fortunate enough to be on a skiing vacation in Austria, and it was within this majestic setting that I found the inspiration to write a small piece on what I believe is a fundamental psychological element of performance, or lack thereof. The element of FEAR. Anyone who has been on a skiing […]
Competition anxiety will affect all of us, although the extent to which it strikes varies from athlete to athlete. We are often told “it’s good to be a bit nervous” but anything more than a few butterflies in your stomach can prevent you from reaching your full performance potential. In order to perform at a […]
All athletes experience fear or anxiety at some point in their sporting career, but how does the fear of failure effect their actual performance? Fear of failure can have such a strong presence that it can hold you back from reaching your true potential, which is why it is so important to address the issue. […]
This article discusses the interventions that can be put in place to help performers to adopt a healthier attitude towards their sport. It follows on from a previous article ‘Motivation & Fear of Failure’ (February Articles) which discussed performers’ goal orientations, these being either dominantly task, or ego orientated. As research points out being highly […]