Performance Solutions of an Athlete

Have you ever felt an overwhelming feeling of fear or nervousness, prior to competing in an important event? Did it affect your ability to perform? If so, you may be familiar with performance anxiety. An athlete suffering from performance anxiety often will perceive competitive situations as threatening, which can result in feelings of apprehension, fearfulness and tension (Patel, Omar, Terry, 2010). Interestingly, studies have found the prevalence of sport-related performance anxiety to be much higher in female athletes than male athletes (Thatcher, Thatcher,

Three theories of stress, arousal and anxiety that are all linked with a common theme are Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning, Inverted-U theory, and Catastrophe theory. These three are linked by the theme of function of behaviour equals person times situation. These theories can help to explain arousal and anxiety levels of athletes in specific situations and the outcome of their performance, whether they succeed or fail. This essay will focus on the person times situation theme and how athletes need to find the correct balance of arousal and anxiety so they can perform at their best in a given situation. Situations may include the dying seconds of a match where the outcome is in their hands, or it might be a grand final, or any moment

Sports—which involve emotion, competition, cooperation, achievement, and play—provide a rich area for psychological study. People involved in sports attempt to master very difficult skills, often subjecting themselves to intense physical stress as well as social pressure. research has expanded into numerous areas such as imagery training, hypnosis, relaxation training, motivation, socialization, conflict and competition, counseling, and coaching. Specific sports and recreational specialties studied include baseball, basketball, soccer,

Athletic trainers are nearly everywhere. Most high schools, colleges, semi pro teams, Olympic teams, professional teams and basically any other organized athletic association has them. But unbelievably this is the type of exchange that happens a lot when engaging in conversation. Although Athletic Trainers are on TV all the time, we are usually referred to as "trainers" by the talent at ESPN or local news organizations.

Athletic Trainers are certified healthcare professionals who work mainly in the specialty of sport medicine. These professionals collaborate with physicians to treat athletes with preventative care, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic exercises and emergency care. They are expected to recognize injuries and provide first aide. Athletic trainers also develop and carry exercise action plans for athletes who are injured and for injury prevention. These action plans may include therapeutic programs and performance testing.

The room is loud and boisterous; the other team is ahead by a point, and the home team has ten seconds on the clock. The pressure is on the home team on making the basket. As the time outs are depleted the home team happens to have the opportunity to drive takingadvantage, one of the boys drives into the lane making the final shot. A piercing screech makes the crowd go silent there lays the all-star player. Nobody dares make a soundthe thumping sounds come from the footsteps nearing the injured teen. A middle-aged brown hair lady comes to the scene, asking the former basketball star what happened and where the pain is coming from. Scanning the player’s leg and seeing the swollen ankle she comes to the conclusion that it is a sprained ankle,

The requirements for an Athletic Trainer is a bachelor's degree, but you may also get a graduate degree. While in the bachelor’s program you will encounter classroom and hands on learning. The studies include science, and health related studies such as nutrition, kinesiology, biomechanics, and exercise physiology. After college or during college you must gain experience before you can be an Athletic Trainer. The experience requirements are supervised time in clinics and internships that may be with a college or local professional sports team. After earning your degree in Athletic training in most states you are required to have a license or registered and that is according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Your license and registration are from the Board of Certification. In order to qualify to have your license or to be registered you must have a degree from an accredited school and pass a

As my profession I have chosen to strive for is athletic training. Athletic trainers are multi-skilled health care professionals who work together as a team and evaluate peoples’ body functions and health needs. I have chosen this career path because I love to be around sports. I have been an Athlete for several years and hope to make this profession better because I understand how the athletes feel and can use this to make the training room a more comfortable environment for athletes. In this paper I have used statistic to evaluate what it takes to have this as my lifetime career.

Sports today are more common than before in previous years. Having a job in the athletic field requires more to it than just understanding the basics of sports. People are more active which helps play a big role in the athletic field because it requires everyone to be more aware of injuries, and learn how to prevent, treat, and diagnose an injury. Athletic trainers do not only help athletes but people who are physically athletic learn how to prevent injuries and stay healthy and fit. Not every day does one encounter the difficulties that an athletic trainer does dealing with small injuries to injuries that keep athletes out of the sports they love for months even years, to even trying to help athletes that do not want to listen .Training

399). Investigations on the chronic effects of exercise have involved programs which last approximately 2-4 months consisting of two to four sessions per week. Most research on effects of acute exercise has focused on the reduction of state anxiety. Recent studies, (Focht & Hausenblas, 2001; Ekkekakis, Hall & Petruzzello, 1999) showed that aerobic exercise resulted in lowered state anxiety and higher tranquility scores. In addition to this, other research has revealed that moderate-intensity exercise produced the greatest positive effects in affective responses implying that the anxiety reduction following exercise occurs regardless of the intensity, duration or type of exercise (Berger, Pargman & Weinberg, 2002, pp. 399-401). Raglin and Morgan (1987) found that state anxiety was reduced for 24 hours after the exercise bout, whereas participants in a control rest condition returned to baseline levels within 30 minutes (Berger, Pargman & Weinberg, 2002, pp. 400). Although acute exercise is no more effective in decreasing state anxiety than quiet rest of distraction, the effects last longer. According to Breus and O’Connor (1998), the decrease in state anxiety after exercise lasted several hours, which was more than in the distraction and quiet rest groups. This implies that positive effects may be gained after a few weeks of training, but enduring effects may only be achieved through continuous exercise.

for one's mind and body work in tandem. The mind is a message center that

Hoar cites Graham Jones (1991) as proposing the direction dimension of perceived anxiety, which relates to the translation of perceived anxiety to either debilitative or facilitative behaviour. Simply, athletes differ in the way they handle anxiety, some athletes perceive anxiety as a sign of readiness, and others perceive it as a reason to believe they are unable to perform at a high level. Jones’ proposal is highlighted in an article by Martinant and Ferrant (2007) which aims to find meaning groups of athletes based on intensity, direction, and frequency of anxiety.

Cashmoore (2002) has described anxiety as ‘an unpleasant emotion, which is characterised by vague but persistent feelings of apprehension and dread’ (Cashmoore, 2002). There are many different types of anxiety including state, trait, somatic and cognitive (Moran, 2004, pp. 72-75). State anxiety has been defined as ‘subjective, consciously perceived feelings of tension and apprehension’ (Spielberger, 1966, p. 17), whereas trait anxiety is an acquired behavioral tendency (Spielberger, 1966). Somatic anxiety relates to the physiological manifestations of anxiety, in sport symptoms include: increased heart rate, rapid shallow breathing and increased perspiration (Davis, Hutchings, & Morris, 1981, p. 541). ‘Cognitive anxiety however is characterised by negative thoughts and worries’ (Moran, 2004, p. 73).

In earlier days sports psychology was mostly concerned with developing assessment methods that would identify those people with the potential to become serious superior athletes. Today the focus is on psychological training, exercises that strengthen the mental skills that will help athletic performances on the path to excellence. These skills include mental imagery and focus training. If an athlete is serious about becoming the best he or she can possibly be, the most essential ingredient is commitment to practice the right things. It takes incredible commitment to reach the top: a commitment to rest and train the body so it can perform under the most demanding conditions and a commitment to train the mind to

Competitive and recreational athletes typically use preparatory exercises such as warm-up and stretching to prepare the body for vigorous physical activity (Worrell, Smith, & Winegarden, 1995). For many years, stretching before athletic competition has been recommended to prepare the athlete for the event (Unick, Kieffer, Cheesman, & Freeney, 2005), and stretching has traditionally been considered as an essential component of warm-up routines to prepare muscles for activity, enhance performance, and prevent injuries (Gleim & McHugh, 1997; Marek et al., 2005; Schilling, 2000). The use of stretching as part of warm-up routines comes from the belief that stretching will aid in athletic performance and help prevent injury as well as decrease muscle stiffness, increase range of motion, alleviate pain (Schilling & Stone, 2000; Unick, Kieffer, Cheesman, & Freeney, 2005).