The Techniques Used On Brazilian Athletes At The 2004 Olympic Games Essay

Management of performance and competitive anxiety can be challenging. The first strategy would be to consult with a clinical psychologist, who will often suggest a behavioural approach. These approaches have been found to be the optimal coping strategy for sport-related anxiety, specifically Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) (Patel et

Therefore, clinical sport psychologists working with athletes, not only seek to enhance an athlete’s mental performance, but also assist athletes with psychological disorders, looking to overcome their problems by developing new, more functional ways of thinking (Comer, 2015). Beck & Weishaar (2014) in particular, have focused on this cognitive approach which affords

The beneficial aspects of participating in sports are often noted but there is another side that cannot be ignored. Mental health issues among elite athletes is a topic of increasing interest and public awareness. Sport-related factors such as injury, overtraining and failure in competition are showing to influence the prevalence of mental health issues in elite athletes. Whatever the cause or reason mental health issues and concerns cannot be ignored. High performance athletes need to be provided with mental health support, despite the negative stigma of mental health issues and the concept of mental toughness in athletes. In the past, there has been a “widespread assumption has existed within the sporting world that only emotionally and mentally strong athletes are able to complete at the highest levels. Psychological disorders, such as depression, were thought to infrequently occur among elite athletes” (Hammond et al, 2013, pg.276) There may actually be an increased risk for mental health issues in athletes as they are less likely to; seek treatment, reveal symptoms, are more accustomed to work through pain, fear of showing signs of weakness and may not have developed healthy coping mechanisms to deal with failure. In addition, many athletes have not developed their identity outside of being an athlete and therefore if this role is threatened by injury or illness, they may experience a significant sense of loss. Treating a psychological ailment in athletes should be given as much importance as treating a physical

Next, there is going to be an explanation of how anxiety and performance relate among athletes. A lot of sports psychology is related to anxiety. It shapes the way we think and behave prior to an event. “The ability to cope with pressure and anxiety is an integral part of sports, particularly among elite athletes” (Humara, 1999). If one is unable to get through the psychological battle that is going through their heads, it will lead to doing poorly when participating in an event.

State anxiety occurs during competition and decreases performances but interventions can decrease cognitive and somatic anxiety (Prapavessis, Grove, McNair, & Cable). Athletes can also attain anxiety when they do not see their coaches as competent. For example, if a coach were to tell a soccer athlete to do this and then they get hurt they would not trust them and be anxious doing any other directions (Myers, Beauchamp, & Chase, 2011). Since coaches are able to reduce an athlete’s anxiety then, coaches have the ability to create a positive atmosphere and in this study student-athletes had an overall positive view of their coaches' ability to develop autonomy-supportive team climates (Noble & Forester, 2016). According to researcher’s anxiety may be a predisposition but state anxiety is heavily influenced by the motivational climate, more specifically ego environments athletes reported increases in anxiety over the season (Smith, Smoll, & Cumming, 2007). When athletes enter state anxiety many have coping methods, and PPR may influence performance through lowering the athlete’s anxiety (Hazell, Cotterill, & Hill, 2014) or even self-talk (Miles & Neil, 2013), but the success of using these techniques would depend on the situation. However, some research suggests that regardless of competition (good or bad) and sport (long duration/short duration) athletes reported an equal number of experiences and implemented coping strategies (Nieuwenhuys, Vos, Pijpstra, & Bakker, 2011). With this conflicting research on how it effects athletes, there is research that states giving athletes CSAI-2 or sports oriented questionnaires can help both parties understand each other (Hall & Kerr,

Coaches learn how their athletes get motivated and use that information to keep them motivated when they are training which lets the athletes become better. Most athletes enjoy receiving criticism from their coaches because it lets them know what their weakness are and motivates them to fix them making them better athletes. Fear of failure affects the athletes performance because it can cause them to lose their focus and therefore not being able to make quick decisions in the game. Athletes who experience a lot of anxiety can cause them to make mistakes and the only way to overcome their anxiety is to try and understand where the anxiety may be coming from. There are a couple of types of anxiety which are mentally or physically types. Their muscles may become tense making it impossible for them to perform correctly, they may also have a lot of negative thoughts running through their heads which may cloud their judgment. Most athletes can never get rid of the anxiety but they can control the level of it and use that energy to perform better in their

Many athletes would agree that they have felt butterflies in their stomach or a sudden rush of adrenaline before an important game. This feeling can either translate into legendary performances or monumental failures. According to Sharon D. Hoar (2007), to fully comprehend anxiety’s effect on performance, one must understand the discrimination between two unique sets of sources: trait and state anxiety, and cognitive and somatic anxiety. Anxiety symptoms are numerous and unique to every athlete. Hoar suggests that athletes might report cognitive symptoms (eg. Inability to focus), somatic symptoms (eg. Sweaty palms), or both. The author discusses a variety of sources of anxiety and argues that it can have both positive and negative effects

It has been identified that through sports psychology one can improve their physical ability and performance. Sports psychology is the study of how the mind, mental states and behaviour effect sporting performance. There are several sport psychology techniques, which have helped me become a better volleyball player. These techniques include planning for performance, controlling arousal levels, mental rehearsal and concentration.

“Too much stress, or bad stress, can cause performance anxiety, which hurts your health and does not allow you to play relaxed, confident, and focused in competition,” (Cohn). Pressure added from an athlete’s coaches, parents, and teammates, can become overwhelming for a student to maintain. Team dynamics can directly affect an athlete’s performance during the game. If an athlete is not performing at their best, they run the risk of not play in future games and causing disappoint to the team. Issues between teammates are often not expressed on an individual basis, but are kept to themselves and never addressed, which is a contributor to the many reports of depression and anxiety in student-athletes (Putukian). With many other stressors present in a student-athletes day-to-day life, the added pressures of team dynamics and performance can result in the development of a mental illness. Over 50% of male athletes and over 60% of female athletes face heavy stress related to their sport in the form of pressure to win, extreme anxiety, and fear (Stress). The stresses of having to do well, not only for yourself, but for the overall team, causes many student-athletes to carry stress into their

The ultimate goal of sports psychology is to improve the athlete’s physical performance. Applied sports psychology involves hands-on assessments of which psychological factors affect athlete performance and how the sports game psychological affects the athlete. Sports psychologist work with a variety of people, such as athletes, coaches, trainers

The utilization of the mental skills to increase or enhance performance and optimal functioning has been a major focus of sport psychology since the fields early days, the importance of having pinnacle mental and emotional skills is seen in the highly valued Olympic gold medalists. Mental toughness which is having control, focus, resiliency, and the ability to cope with pressure, all empowers an athlete to tackle the best possible attitude to compete at a high caliber. Many athletes use numerous mental techniques to give them the best edge at having the most ideal game or season. These techniques are the basis of psychological skills training. Psychological skills training (PST) by definition refers to systematic and consistent practice of mental or psychological skills for the purpose of enhancing

There are different ways in which a coach can help their athlete manage and control their arousal levels to prevent negative anxiety. These coping strategies have proven to be successful for various athletes as they try to fix bad habits that are left on the field or court during their performance. The first strategy is imagery and mental rehearsal. This strategy allows an athlete to visualize, in their mind, a specific game event or a skill they feel they need to work on. By an athlete visioning themselves performing the skill, without the use of their body, it allows them to find kinks in their game that might be affecting their play during performance. This strategy can also include an athlete examining video or another athlete to see what

When I look back on my sport participation I remember using strategies similar to those used by sport psychologists to calm myself before big performances. For example, at a national competition for BMX racing the wait between each race could easily be over an hour, this long wait caused anxiety and tension to build within, and the longer I waited the more tension I would feel as the race grew nearer. Overtime I learned to deal with these feelings of unease through relaxation training and mental imaging. When my race grew close I would begin to try and calm myself by using deep breathing techniques to lower stress and tension while also at the same time imagining myself winning the race. At the time I had no idea I was using tools similar

To truly witness the full effects anxiety has on an athlete’s performance, research requires the focus on cognitive anxiety (CA) and self-confidence, but SA assists when assessing the true effects (Brustad & Wiggins, 1996). Brustad and Wiggins (1996) tested

Men and women experience stress and anxiety in many different ways in everyday life and in their respective sport. Anxiety is described as, “a negative response to a stimulus that includes both physiological (somatic) and psychological (cognitive) components”, while stress is described as, “a substantial imbalance between demand and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet the demand has important consequences” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011, p. 20). Taking a look into what are some of those differences and why they effect women and men differently is a key aspect of this review. This literature review examines relevant studies in the psychological field by reviewing the empirical studies conducted on the relationships among stress, anxiety and performance in a variety of contexts, with a specific focus on men and women and how they differ. Anxiety and stress represent the psychological and physiological notation and what they represent in society. There is ample amount of research to support the notation that women experience more stress and anxiety than men due to gender roles and what society deems as acceptable and unacceptable (Caballo, Salazar, Irurtia, Arias & Hofmann, 2014). This paper will examine what are some contributing factors of stress and anxiety between men and women, as well as, the effects that such stress and anxiety have on both parties. Likewise, taking a look into some different coping technique that work better for men and