Understanding Performance anxiety in Sport Presented by Roxane Carrière, M. Sc., P.hD. Candidate Mental Performance Specialist, Canadian Sport Psychology Association (CSPA), Student member

Sport Psychology To facilitate the development of mental and emotional skills, techniques, attitudes, perspectives, and processes that lead to performance enhancement and positive personal development Physical : training, sleep, nutrition Tactical: strategies, systems of play Technical: motor execution, skills Mental : self-talk, imagery, goal setting Emotional -confidence, anxiety, fun Mental Physical Emotional Technical/Tactical

What is performance anxiety? « A negative emotional state that occurs in the absence of real/obvious danger in response to a competitive stressor » Anticipating a situation as a threat/failure

It’s all about perspective Situation competition Positive Perception Negative Perception opportunity threat Pleasant emotions/thoughts (confident, happy, positive) Unpleasant emotions/thoughts (nervous, doubtful, negative) Physical symptoms: Relaxed, good coordination Physical symptoms: Muscles tension, fast breathing, bad coordination PERFORMANCE

Exercise Rest your dominant forearm and hand palm down on a desk. Tense all the muscles in the hand and fingers and then try to alternatively tap the index and middle fingers back and forth as quickly as possible. Now relax all the muscles in the forearm and hand and repeat the exercise. Do you notice a difference?

Why do athletes get anxious? Internal Self-confidence Fear of failure Movement execution Internal discourse (self-talk) External Importance of the event Fear of evaluation Expectations (parents/coaches/spectators) Distractions (opponents, time, weather)

Self-Efficacy (Confidence) Do I think I have the skills to meet the demands of the situation? Varies with importance of the event and past accomplishments in different situations Challenge Self-efficacy: the belief I can suceed in a specific situation Competence or ability does not change over night, it is simply our perception that changes. When we feel our abilities (physical, technical, mental skills) do not match the demands of the situation (competition)= low self-confidence When we feel wrongly confident about our ability to meet the demands of to the situation, but haven’t prepared objectivly for the situation = over-confidence Ability

Building your Confidence! Self-esteem list or Success list Reviewing an outstanding performance in your head or thinking about past accomplishments I know that … I know that …

Make sure my shots hit the net 80% of the time Fear of failure How do you define success and failure? Keeping your focus on the process, will most likely lead to a positive outcome Outcome Win a soccer game Out of your control !! Make sure my shots hit the net 80% of the time Performance What could be an ideal process goal to focus on during a competition. Be first on the ball Attack the net Process In your control !!

Having ego oriented goals can lead to increased anxiety! What are your goals? Goal orientation Task Orientation: focus on mastery of a skill and improving personal standards Ego Orientation: focus on demonstrating superior competence compared to others Having ego oriented goals can lead to increased anxiety!

What are your goals? Task orientation Ego orientation Competence “Athletic ability can be developed with practice” “Good athletes are born that way“ Task orientation Ego orientation Competence Developed with effort Innate ability Purpose Performing at one’s best (personal improvement) Being better than others (social comparison) Success Mastering a skill (self-referenced) Superior performance to others (other-referenced) Challenges Embrace challenges (opportunity to learn) Avoid challenges (threat to competence) Task orientation: focusing on the mastery of a task, focus on improving your personal standards. ABSOLUTE ABILITY Ego orientation: focusing on one’s ability relative to others, Will influence how we attribute the outcome of competitive events and how we behave towards changing those outcomes Reference: Mindset, the new psychology of success, by Dr. Carol S. Dweck

Negative thoughts Self-talk: thoughts that you say to yourself in your head Athletes need to develop a habit of thinking more positively Strategies to think “positive” Changing a negative thought to a positive one (e.g. figure skating) Using a trigger for every negative self-statement (e.g. paper clips) Reframing – changing your perspective on a situation (e.g. waterpolo) All athletes engage in self-talk, we tend to be very unkind with ourselves. We often say things to ourselves that we would never allow somebody else to say to us. (you’re not good enough, you didn’t try hard enough). There are different strategies that you can use to think more positively. Negative statements become a habit and we need to become conscious of our negative thoughts before we can actually change them. Figure skating: land it Gymnastics: stick it

Identifying Irrational thoughts “I’m not good enough” or “I am not ready for a competition” L – Is it logical? U – Is it useful to my performance? V – Is it true? If the answer is NO to these questions, you may need to think more objectively about the situation.

Movement execution “Paralysis by over analysis” Explicitly deconstructing movements that are automatic Interferes with the automaticity of movement (e.g. brushing your teeth) Using cue words or images to focus on good movement execution Pointe de pizza Hand in the cookie jar Pieds sur du beton chaud Easy speed Skills that are normally undertaken with little or no thought become disrupted due to the athlete trying to consciously control the movement. Reviewing all of your notes before an exam

External Distractions Unfamiliar setting, spectators, weather, racing lane, time of competition, quality of the water Controlling the Controllables (CTC) Focusing on factors that are within your control instead of directing your attention on factors that you cannot control What can you control in your sport? Step #1: Identify the type of stressor Step #2: Can you control the stressor or get information to control it Step #3: If you cannot control the stressor, redirect your attention Known factors Unknown factors

External Distractions Having a distraction control plan Identify all possible distractors that may arise during a competition Identify your typical response Choose a refocus strategy for the desired response We are preventing or muting the influence of potential stressors.

Staying in the Present Moment Past Present Future You cannot change a mistake that you have made in the past nor can you control the events that will take place in the future. The only place you have control is in the present moment.

Thank you for your time For more questions or comments: roxane.carriere@umontreal.ca (514) 609-2407 Feel free to come talk to me at the end of the presentation 