Performance Anxiety in Sports

Sports bring out the best qualities in every individual. Every faculty of the human body, whether physical or mental, is stretched to its limits while playing a competitive game. In today's world, the standard of all games has increased considerably. Elite sportspersons are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain their dominance in their respective sports. The mental state of a sportsperson plays a vital role in his or her performance. Anxiety sets in when an individual begins to doubt his or her capacity to deal with the situation which builds stress. Quite often it is not the talent that decides your performance. It simply depends on the way you deal with the ups and downs of the game.

Understanding Anxiety in Sports
According to 'Athletic Insight', a journal of sports psychology, anxiety can be classified in two ways; trait anxiety and state anxiety. State anxiety is situational stress induced by situations in the game. A sportsperson's autonomic nervous system is aroused in this state which is the natural reaction of any individual. On the other hand, trait anxiety can be thought of as a world view that an individual uses when coping with stress. In sports, individuals who are state anxious and low on the trait anxiety in tough situations, often deliver good performances consistently. Whereas, athletes who have higher levels of trait anxiety, added with the state anxiety, tend to perform below expectations.

Performance Anxiety in Sports
There is always a pre-defined 'region of anxiety' in a sportsperson, before the start of any game, bout or a race. When this anxiety is at the optimum level, it can lead to a significantly better performance. If the level exceeds or falls below this 'region of anxiety', it can adversely affect the performance. Research has also proved that performances influenced by anxiety have more impact in a team game than in a solo sport. A swimmer has higher levels of performance anxiety than a baseball player. The dominant and top players of a game convert their performance anxiety into excitement, which stimulates the positive hormones, resulting in winning performances. They take the anxiety arousal as a facilitator to come up with a better performance. A sportsperson whose mind interprets anxiety as a debacle often end up loosing.

Learnings from Sports
Sports psychology has become an area of deep study and research. The competition, especially at the international level has induced great deal of anxiety related problems. The game is played on two fields; the playing field and the mental field. For example, sportsmen like Rafael Nadal, the swimmer Michael Phelps, or the US basketball team are at the helm of their affairs, not because of their talent alone. It is their balanced mental state, which gives them an edge over their equally or perhaps more talented athletes. Experts believe and it has been proved that talent and ability can take you only to a certain level in sports. In fact, after you cross a certain threshold of performance, talent becomes almost an 'useless' virtue to posses, because it breeds pride, complacency and hence ignorance. It is only the hard working and the most stable minds with only a spark of talent, who rule sports.

Performing to the best of abilities has become more relevant in todays sport, because of the extensive media exposure. Sports are at the peak of their popularity all throughout the world, cutting across the barriers of richness or poverty, nationality, race or religion. In order to sustain the tremendous expectations of the fans and also to maintain a high ranking in the international arena, it is important to perform well. Self confidence, strong resolve, humility to accept defeat and experience are the best tools to counter the effects of anxiety. Anxiety is not a disease that a sportsperson can get rid of, once and for all. It has to be used as a booster to improve performance, to achieve sporting glory.