Athlete's Stress

 Almost anything can be found on the net.  But luck means you know where to look. Maybe a blog from time to time can send my reader to the right portal of information.  So a summary of Stress in sport as defined by International Journal of Physical Education, Sports and Health 2015 .

As these past blogging years has been about the Mental Strength we need in sports and some tricks toward development  of mental skills in our Sports; I realize that often personal affairs in our life greatly affect our performance. With the Olympics now coming to a close and my sport of introduction to Mental Control (Archery) now giving good Canadian results; I spend more time teaching and writing about our Mental Strengths.

This article is of interest as "Stress" has a big effect on our "Focus". Especially when in the middle of our sport performance we just seem unable to keep it together. "Psychology preparation is a component that has been often neglected by athletes and coaches alike, studies have shown that mental readiness was felt to be the most significant statistical link with Olympics ranking. Athletes have frequently been quoted to state how the mental aspect is the most important part of one’s performance.". "Stress is defined as a physical, mental or emotional, demand, which tends to disturb the homeostasis of the body. It is an everyday part of life" writes Ashwani Bali in this 2015 article.

"Sports performance is not simply a product of physiology (for example stress and fitness) and biomechanical (for example technique factors) but psychological factors also play a crucial role in determining performance."   he adds.  One would say we live on the High of Stress during a good Competition but can we go into our sport without worries about the daily events which create a mental stress for us. It is certain that unless our mental health is strong the family events, or other elements of life do and will affect our performance. We must have the strength to remain "Focus" and Concentrate.

"However, every athlete has a certain stress level that is needed to 

optimize his or her game. That bar depends on factors such as past experiences, coping responses and genetics. Stress during sports, as in anything else in life, may be acute, episodic or chronic"  How does stress affect Performance and the studies of study of Stress by the Yerkes-Dodson Law is expressed in the Stress Response Curve. Seems as Stress increases in competitive activities that the point of eustress, or healthy tension builds.

"As stress begins to be perceived as overwhelming or excessive, the person reaches a fatigue point wherein the performance levels starts to decline. The ultimate end of overwhelming stress, called burnout, can be exhaustion, illhealth or breakdown."

This article deals with the Postive and Negative Effects of Stress and how we should see Management wheather in our sports or our daily life.Actually it shows Boredom with low stress and Health problems with High Stress and discuss various suggestions to confront Stress.

In dealing with Anxiety it discuss how "Anxiety is an essential ingredient of any competitive situation and without certain level of anxiety, there cannot be competitive performance. Neither too high, nor too low level of anxiety is conductive to sports performance."  Also for the athletic who has reached that level where he is visualizing his game and his opponent with each part of his performance it offers tips and controls against excess anxiety or stress  as we attempt our best performance.

Dealing with Tension the article 10 year old article (2015) says "Anxiety is an essential ingredient of any competitive situation and without certain level of anxiety, there cannot be competitive performance. Neither too high, nor too low level of anxiety is conductive to sports performance". Like any good scientific article it  offers "Tension Regulating Skills" suggesting that  " An athlete’s tension level in a particular competition generally consists of two parts: 1. his basic tension level (i.e. the average tension level when awake, in other words, the activation level); 2. and the situation rise in tension due to competition (i.e. competition fever equivalent of examination fever)."

And interesting read for Coaches and Athletes whom have reached this level of competitions.