Chapter II
Emotions in sports
Definition: Emotion is defined as a reaction to a stimulus event (either actual or imagined)
e.g. child tries to run away when sees the bull coming towards him.
Feeling nervous by imagining about competition
It is a disturbed muscular activity.
Role of emotions in sports
Emotions are driving forces of life.
The emotions are important in social interaction and in forming social connections.
Learning how to manage our emotions is an important skill that we continually develop throughout our lives.
Problems arise when emotions persist for longer than normal periods.
Various functions like thinking, reasoning, perception, learning, and memory are all determined by emotions.
The failure and achievement are all directed by emotions.
When a sports person is overpowered by strong emotions of fear, he fails to discriminate the right and the wrong.
Types of emotions
Positive emotions Negative emotions
Joy sorrow
Happiness fear
Love jealousy
Determination frustration
Enthusiasm anger
Interest boredom
And fear
Anxiety
1. stress and anxiety
Stress
It is defined as the non specific response of the body to any demand made upon it (Hans selye 1975)
Stress occurs when you are not able to meet environmental demands.
e.g.: over training
Types of stress
1. Eu stress (positive stress)
Joy
Happiness
Pleasant
2. Distress (negative stress )
Fear
Worry
Apprehension
Anxiety
Consequences of stress:
Chronic stress leads to general adaptation syndrome (GAS)
These are the profound physiological changes in the endocrine and other organ systems resulting from stress.
1. Alarm stage :
This phase consists of bodily changes that occur with emotional responses – eg:increasing heart beat, increased pulse rate, poor functioning of bodily organs .
2. Resistance stage:
During this stage a human recovers from the emotional alarm reaction and attempts to cope with situation.
3. Exhaustion stage:
However stresses of diseases, exposure, or injury can often result in exhaustion and organism will die unless treated.
Anxiety:
It is a negative emotional state with feelings of nervousness, worry, and apprehension.
Types of anxiety
State anxiety:
It is characterized by apprehension, fear and tension accompanied by physiological arousal. It is a situational anxiety.
a) cognitive state anxiety: it is the thought component of anxiety
b) somatic state anxiety : It is bodily related anxiety
Trait anxiety: it is the part of the personality. Perceiving a wide variety of situations as being threatening or dangerous and to respond to those situations with state anxiety.
Relationship between Trait Anxiety and State Anxiety
Research shows that those who score high on trait anxiety measures also experience more state anxiety
Individual fact
What triggers anxiety?
Athlete anxiety triggers from the fear of failure, fear of success, fear of injuries, rejection by the coach, fans, family and significant others .
How does increased anxiety affect the athlete ?
Chronic feelings of fear and anxiety result in psychosomatic illness
Migraine headache,
Gastrointestinal problems
Body pains.
Increased heart rate
Increased blood pleasure
Increased sweating,
Increased respiration,
Increased muscle tension.
Psychological changes associated with increased stress and anxiety
Inability to take decisions,
Feeling confused,
Inability to concentrate,
Not feeling control.
Behavioral changes associated with increased anxiety and stress
Rapid talking,
Nail biting,
Foot tapping,
Muscle twitching,
Pacing scowling,
Increased blinking,
Yawning,
Broken voices,
Measuring anxiety
There are many psychological and physiological ways to measure anxiety.
Physiological measures
1. Galvanic skin response: it measures the electrical activity in the arterioles and veinules
2. (Electro cardiogram) ECG: It measures the electrical activity of the heart beat
3.(Electro encephalogram) EEg: it measures the record of electrical current developed by the cerebral cortex.
4.electro myogram (emg) it measures the electrical activity of the muscle
5. Sphygmomanometer (BP): it measures arterial blood pressure
Psychological measures:
people rate their anxiety with series of statements.
E.g., anxiety questionnaires
stress management
Three ways to manage stress and anxiety
I. Environmental engineering
1. Reducing uncertainty
E.g. let the players know well in advance of the game situations
2: Decrease importance
Eg: Ask parents to discontinue the practice if player faces more anxiety in practice in presence of the parents.
II. Cognitive stress management techniques :
Imagery relaxation
self directed relaxation
progressive realxation
Awareness of negative thinking
Rational thinking
Smart talk
Stress inoculation training
Autogenic training
III.Somatic stress mangament
Self directed relaxation technique
Progressive relaxation technique
Biofeedback relaxation
Breath control
Monday, August 16, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
attention
Attention and concentration:
Attention: Attention is the mental process where by athletes direct and maintains awareness of stimuli detected by their senses.
Dimensions of the attention (Types of attention):
Neideffer identified four types of antinational focus.
Broad
Internal external
Narrow
Broad external attentional focus: used to rapidly assess a situation .
E g: a soccer player rapidly assess the position of the defensive team.
Broad internal attentional focus.
Used to analyze and plan.
E.g. developing game plan.
Narrow external attentional focus:
Used to focus exclusively on one or two external cues externally.
E.g. the ball or position of opponent.
Narrow internal attentional focus:
Used to mentally rehearse an upcoming performance or control an emotional state.
E.g. mentally rehearse tennis swing or taking a breath to relax.
Guidelines for improving attention:
1. The attentional demands for each specific
Skill in your sport should be analyzed by you and
Athletes.
2. When attention is focused externally teach athletes what cues should be attended.
3. When attention is focused internally attend to positive thoughts.
4. Attend to the present and immediate forthcoming action.
Concentration:
Focusing on the relevant cues in the environment, maintaining that attentional focus overtime, having awareness of the changing situations, and shifting attentional focus when necessary. (Weinberg, 1999)
1. Focusing on the relevant cues:
Selecting relevant cues and focusing and disregarding or eliminating irrelevant cues.
2. Maintaining that focus overtime:
Maintaining attentional focus for the duration of the competition or practice.
3.Having aware of the changing situations
An athlete’s Ability to understand what is going on around him or her is known as situational awareness.
This ability allows players to size up the game situations, opponents, and competition.
4.Shifting the attentional
Often it is necessary to shift attentional focus during an event demanded by the situation.
Concentration and sport performance
Athletes and coaches certainly recognize the importance of proper attentional focus in achieving high levels of performance.
Successful athletes maintain a more task oriented focus and are less likely to become distracted by irrelevant stimuli.
Peak performers have developed exceptional concentration. They get absorbed in present and having
Attentional problems
1.internal distracters
Our thoughts, worries, and concerns are the internal distracters.
These worries and irrelevant thoughts can cause performers to lose concentration and develop an inappropriate focus of attention.
Attending to past events
Focusing on the past events has been the downfall of many talented athletes, as looking backward prevents them from focusing on the present.
Attending to events
Athletes engage in a form of worrying or thinking about the outcome of the event rather than what they need to do now to be successful also prevents them from focusing on game.
Choking under pressure
Emotional factors such as the pressure of competition often play a critical role in creating internal sources of distraction.
Conditions leading to choking:
• important competition
• critical plays in a competition.
• evaluation by coaches, peers, and parents
Physical changes due to pressure of competition.
• increased muscle tension
• increased breathing rate
• racing heart rate.
Attentional problems due to pressure of competition
• internal focus
• narrow focus
• reduced flexibility
Performance impairment due to pressure of competition
• timings and coordination breaks down
• muscle tight ness and fatigue
• rushing
• Inability to attend to task relevant cues.
Overanalyzing body mechanics
The more analyze, the more likely you are to break the natural, smooth movement’s characteristics of high levels of performance.
Fatigue
When player gets tired, his loses concentration .this results in impaired decision making, lack of focus and intensity, and other mental breakdowns. This is why conditioning and fitness are so important.
Inadequate motivation.
If an individual is not motivated, it is difficult to maintain concentration, as the mind is likely to wanders.
External distracters.
1. Visual distracters
Spectators can cause a visual distraction and may affect some people’s concentration and subsequent performance by making them try too hard.
Score board and television cameras also causes attentional problems.
2. Auditory distracters:
Common distracters include crowd noise, airplanes flying overhead, mobile telephones, announcements on the public address system, beepers and other electronic paging devices. Loud conversations among spectators.
3. Gamesmanship
In many sports situations, competitors ploys in an effort to disrupt the concentration of their opponents; this is typically referred to as gamesmanship.
Tips for improving concentration on site
1. Use simulation in practice
Players will be physically and psychologically prepared for this pressure situation in the game. This type of practice is known as simulation training.
Practicing with distractions can help develop focus.
Cue words
Cue words are used to trigger a particular response and are really a form of self talk.
Simple and let them automatically trigger the desired response.
e .g: strong , move , relax
Employ non judgmental thinking:
Player, instead of judging the worth of a performance and categorizing it as either good or bad. payer should learn to look at your actions nonjudgmentally .
Establish routines:
Routines can focus concentration and can be extremely helpful to mental preparation for an upcoming performance.
e.g.: a tennis player during changeovers might sit in a chair, take a deep breath, and image what she wants to do in the next game.
Routines can be used before or during an event to focus attention, reduce anxiety, and enhance confidence.
Developing competition plan
Establishing precompetition and competition plans to help maintain their attentional focus .
These plans help athletes not only prepare for their events but also prepare for what they would do in different circumstances, both before and during competition.
Practice eye control
Eye control is still another method to focus concentration. Fixing eyes only on the task is the key to control our eyes not to wander to irrelevant cues.
Attention: Attention is the mental process where by athletes direct and maintains awareness of stimuli detected by their senses.
Dimensions of the attention (Types of attention):
Neideffer identified four types of antinational focus.
Broad
Internal external
Narrow
Broad external attentional focus: used to rapidly assess a situation .
E g: a soccer player rapidly assess the position of the defensive team.
Broad internal attentional focus.
Used to analyze and plan.
E.g. developing game plan.
Narrow external attentional focus:
Used to focus exclusively on one or two external cues externally.
E.g. the ball or position of opponent.
Narrow internal attentional focus:
Used to mentally rehearse an upcoming performance or control an emotional state.
E.g. mentally rehearse tennis swing or taking a breath to relax.
Guidelines for improving attention:
1. The attentional demands for each specific
Skill in your sport should be analyzed by you and
Athletes.
2. When attention is focused externally teach athletes what cues should be attended.
3. When attention is focused internally attend to positive thoughts.
4. Attend to the present and immediate forthcoming action.
Concentration:
Focusing on the relevant cues in the environment, maintaining that attentional focus overtime, having awareness of the changing situations, and shifting attentional focus when necessary. (Weinberg, 1999)
1. Focusing on the relevant cues:
Selecting relevant cues and focusing and disregarding or eliminating irrelevant cues.
2. Maintaining that focus overtime:
Maintaining attentional focus for the duration of the competition or practice.
3.Having aware of the changing situations
An athlete’s Ability to understand what is going on around him or her is known as situational awareness.
This ability allows players to size up the game situations, opponents, and competition.
4.Shifting the attentional
Often it is necessary to shift attentional focus during an event demanded by the situation.
Concentration and sport performance
Athletes and coaches certainly recognize the importance of proper attentional focus in achieving high levels of performance.
Successful athletes maintain a more task oriented focus and are less likely to become distracted by irrelevant stimuli.
Peak performers have developed exceptional concentration. They get absorbed in present and having
Attentional problems
1.internal distracters
Our thoughts, worries, and concerns are the internal distracters.
These worries and irrelevant thoughts can cause performers to lose concentration and develop an inappropriate focus of attention.
Attending to past events
Focusing on the past events has been the downfall of many talented athletes, as looking backward prevents them from focusing on the present.
Attending to events
Athletes engage in a form of worrying or thinking about the outcome of the event rather than what they need to do now to be successful also prevents them from focusing on game.
Choking under pressure
Emotional factors such as the pressure of competition often play a critical role in creating internal sources of distraction.
Conditions leading to choking:
• important competition
• critical plays in a competition.
• evaluation by coaches, peers, and parents
Physical changes due to pressure of competition.
• increased muscle tension
• increased breathing rate
• racing heart rate.
Attentional problems due to pressure of competition
• internal focus
• narrow focus
• reduced flexibility
Performance impairment due to pressure of competition
• timings and coordination breaks down
• muscle tight ness and fatigue
• rushing
• Inability to attend to task relevant cues.
Overanalyzing body mechanics
The more analyze, the more likely you are to break the natural, smooth movement’s characteristics of high levels of performance.
Fatigue
When player gets tired, his loses concentration .this results in impaired decision making, lack of focus and intensity, and other mental breakdowns. This is why conditioning and fitness are so important.
Inadequate motivation.
If an individual is not motivated, it is difficult to maintain concentration, as the mind is likely to wanders.
External distracters.
1. Visual distracters
Spectators can cause a visual distraction and may affect some people’s concentration and subsequent performance by making them try too hard.
Score board and television cameras also causes attentional problems.
2. Auditory distracters:
Common distracters include crowd noise, airplanes flying overhead, mobile telephones, announcements on the public address system, beepers and other electronic paging devices. Loud conversations among spectators.
3. Gamesmanship
In many sports situations, competitors ploys in an effort to disrupt the concentration of their opponents; this is typically referred to as gamesmanship.
Tips for improving concentration on site
1. Use simulation in practice
Players will be physically and psychologically prepared for this pressure situation in the game. This type of practice is known as simulation training.
Practicing with distractions can help develop focus.
Cue words
Cue words are used to trigger a particular response and are really a form of self talk.
Simple and let them automatically trigger the desired response.
e .g: strong , move , relax
Employ non judgmental thinking:
Player, instead of judging the worth of a performance and categorizing it as either good or bad. payer should learn to look at your actions nonjudgmentally .
Establish routines:
Routines can focus concentration and can be extremely helpful to mental preparation for an upcoming performance.
e.g.: a tennis player during changeovers might sit in a chair, take a deep breath, and image what she wants to do in the next game.
Routines can be used before or during an event to focus attention, reduce anxiety, and enhance confidence.
Developing competition plan
Establishing precompetition and competition plans to help maintain their attentional focus .
These plans help athletes not only prepare for their events but also prepare for what they would do in different circumstances, both before and during competition.
Practice eye control
Eye control is still another method to focus concentration. Fixing eyes only on the task is the key to control our eyes not to wander to irrelevant cues.
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