Why Do Athletes Choke Under Pressure?
WHY DO ATHLETES CHOKE UNDER PRESSURE?
Rodrigo Pacheco Carrillo
Aalborg Sportshøjskole
Aalborg - Denmark 2009
Humanistic Project - Elite Badminton Coach Education
Contents
1
Introduction
3
2
Description
4
Theory related to the ´Choking Phenomenon´
3
Analysis
7
Why do some athletes choke during crucial moments in important competitions?
4
Evaluation
11
How can they mentally work to avoid these situations during their games?
5
Conclusion
14
6
References
15
Humanistic Project | Why do athletes choke under pressure?
2
Introduction
Nowadays not only external factors can determinate the performance of an athlete, we have noticed that many times an athlete is performing his best, but suddenly he ´freezes´. The increased stress of competitions can cause athletes to react both
physically and mentally in a manner that can negatively affect their performance abilities. They may become tense, their heart rates rise, they worry about the outcome of the competition, they find it hard to concentrate on the task in hand, in other words, they panic.
In the last few years the interest in the field of Sports Psychology have been increasing notoriously; that interest have been orientated in the development of techniques that athletes can use in competitions to achieve their best performance. Athletes have been learning these techniques, i.e. know how to maintain focus, relax, motivated, controlled, confident, etc. But even that some of the top athletes in the world had succeed in the task of learning these techniques, we still can see that in the crucial moments of a competition seems that all the learning processes are forgotten, therefore the athletes just ´freeze´ or what in psychology we call, they ´choke´.
In this project I’m going to explain different situations when this has happen; when some athletes have been performing in their best way, but from nowhere and without awareness that
Rodrigo Pacheco Carrillo
Aalborg Sportshøjskole
Aalborg - Denmark 2009
Humanistic Project - Elite Badminton Coach Education
Contents
1
Introduction
3
2
Description
4
Theory related to the ´Choking Phenomenon´
3
Analysis
7
Why do some athletes choke during crucial moments in important competitions?
4
Evaluation
11
How can they mentally work to avoid these situations during their games?
5
Conclusion
14
6
References
15
Humanistic Project | Why do athletes choke under pressure?
2
Introduction
Nowadays not only external factors can determinate the performance of an athlete, we have noticed that many times an athlete is performing his best, but suddenly he ´freezes´. The increased stress of competitions can cause athletes to react both
physically and mentally in a manner that can negatively affect their performance abilities. They may become tense, their heart rates rise, they worry about the outcome of the competition, they find it hard to concentrate on the task in hand, in other words, they panic.
In the last few years the interest in the field of Sports Psychology have been increasing notoriously; that interest have been orientated in the development of techniques that athletes can use in competitions to achieve their best performance. Athletes have been learning these techniques, i.e. know how to maintain focus, relax, motivated, controlled, confident, etc. But even that some of the top athletes in the world had succeed in the task of learning these techniques, we still can see that in the crucial moments of a competition seems that all the learning processes are forgotten, therefore the athletes just ´freeze´ or what in psychology we call, they ´choke´.
In this project I’m going to explain different situations when this has happen; when some athletes have been performing in their best way, but from nowhere and without awareness that
References: 1 Baumeister, R. F., & Showers, C. J. (1986). A review of paradoxical performance effects: Choking under pressure in sports and mental tests. European Journal of Social Psychology, p. 361 - 383. 2 Beilock, S. Gray, R. (2007). Handbook of Sports Psychology 3rd Ed.: Why do athletes choke under pressure? p. 425 - 442 3 Wallace, H. et al. (2005). Journal of Sports Sciences: Audience support and choking under pressure: A home disadvantage? p. 429 - 438 4 Dohmen, Thomas J. (2006). Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization: Do professionals choke under pressure? p. 636 - 653 5 Thomas, H. & Beilock, S. (2001). governs choking under pressure? Journal of Experimental Psychology: What 6 Svoboda, Elizabeth (2009). Scientific American Mind: How to Avoid Choking under Pressure. p. 01 - 03 Humanistic Project | Why do athletes choke under pressure? 15