Elite sport psychology/anxiety/what is anxiety

Sport is inherently stressful, both physically and mentally. It also offers its participants the opportunity for growth, to push boundaries, and to liberate the mind and body simultaneously.

Stress is not necessarily problematic; indeed it can be a positive influence, what some might call a challenge.

How do you cope with challenging situations?

Can you think of a situation in your sporting life when you were challenged? How did it make you feel? How did you approach the challenge and how well did you cope?

Cloaked with uncertainty

As well as being challenging, sport inevitably provides uncertainty. At the precise moment an archer releases an arrow or a golfer swings a club, the outcome is unknown. The stress that sport provides is therefore cloaked in uncertainty.

The combination of stress and uncertainty provides an experience that can be positive or negative. Some athletes will thrive on the challenge of uncertainty whereas others will be anxious and overly worried.  In the latter instance, all manner of doubts and negative thoughts can creep in:

• I can’t win.
• She’s stronger than me.
• I’m going to hurt myself.
• This crowd is huge.
• I surely won’t make the same mistake again, will I?

• I surely can’t lose this because I’m the favourite.
• This is a real pressure shot.
• I’m going to injure myself again.
• This is all too difficult.
• I’m so close to winning this.

An influential theory in sport psychology suggests that athletes’ perceptions of their own ability to control their environment is a major determinant of anxiety levels in sport. If athletes believe they are in control and can meet the challenge ahead, then stress will tend to be facilitative and likely to improve performance. Conversely, if athletes perceive a lack of control over a given situation, then they are more likely to have negative thoughts, become anxious and will  tend to perform less well as a result.

At its most extreme, anxiety can be very debilitating. A recent example involves the former England cricketer Jonathan Trott whose acute anxiety forced him to retire from international cricket.

• Trott a cautionary tale of great expectations

Psychological stressors

In elite sport there are many physical stressors that influence performance, such as humidity, heat, fatigue and injury, but there are also a range of psychological stressors:

Importance of the event

Clearly, the final of a tournament is more important than a pre-season friendly. The more important the event, the greater the stress, and the more likely a competitor is to become anxious.

Importance depends largely on how an individual perceives the event. For example, even an experienced professional who has played in many finals can become nervous about a comeback from an injury. Will they perform to their previous standard? Is there a chance that the injury will occur again?

Audience effects

An audience can make an incredible difference to performance. A supportive crowd can carry athletes to victory whereas a hostile crowd can cause athletes to become flustered and make crucial errors.

The audience effect tends to be exaggerated by a larger crowd. In many team sports such as rugby, cricket and football, playing at home is seen as a significant advantage, where a supportive crowd may help to increase motivation and reduce anxiety. However, if the crowd turns on a performer due to individual mistakes, then this can increase anxiety and cause performance to decline even further.

Emphasis on the individual

Participants in individual sports have been shown to experience higher levels of anxiety before, during and after a competition than participants in team sports. This is because individual athletes are more exposed when performing and do not have team mates to support them. Even in team sports, individuals often become more anxious when the spotlight is on them, at the plate in baseball or the free throw line in basketball.

Fear of injury

Elite athletes are typically more anxious about failing than getting hurt. However, in a contact sport such as boxing where the boxer has to withstand painful blows to the head and body, performance can be affected adversely due to anxiety about being hit. The boxer may become tense, less  fluid in their movements, and too defensive – sometimes leading to the knock down they were trying to avoid.

Athletes returning from a long-term injury may also become anxious about a re-occurrence of the injury, making them slightly hesitant in physical contact and thus more likely to get hurt.

High expectations

Sometimes being the favourite to win a competition can have adverse effects, as was shown in the Brazilian World Cup example. In such situations, it easy for the task ahead to be magnified and seem harder to achieve.

Many athletes are well aware of the investment in them from family, coaching team, and sponsors. For some, this puts an added pressure on them to repay the investment of time, money, and goodwill.

Activity

Diving in China

Diving is a sport that requires a great deal of mental strength and courage. Unsurprisingly, many high divers experience anxiety around their execution of particular dives:

• Glasgow 2014: Tom Daley on his diving demons since Olympics
• Champion conquers high anxiety

The Chinese diving team has dominated the sport for many years. Read the relevant chapter in Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology, to discover how Chinese divers cope with anxiety.

• Diving in China

In the next section we will be looking at responses to anxiety and how relaxation techniques can be used to help alleviate anxiety.