Me Against Myself!

It is well documented that very often people are their own worse enemy. High-level athletes have shown how they lose their nerves at crucial moments and when the game, match, race, is on the line they simply cannot perform at the level they are used to and what their coach, teammates, and fans are expecting. They simply choke! Very often one find an athlete right before competition sweating like there is no tomorrow, or simply with stomach pain, jumpy, real nervous. The lack of concentration and or focus can lead an athlete to think many things before jumping into competition or the execution of an event. Many factors can contribute to this and one been the lack of experience such stage could play a big part in such behavior. This can be so severe that many have withdrawn from competition as results of not been able to regain control, others have performed very poorly, well under their capabilities. The issue is that once the athlete is immersed in that stage many things will start to go wrong, due to the lack of concentration, muscles are going to start becoming tight, hard breathing is coming behind as well, and in some cases, a sense of being tired will come to play as well. This researcher remembers a time during his rookie season at AA level back home, was brought to pitch with bases loaded and no outs, the heart was pounding like there was no tomorrow, the sweating was very intense, the fan noise was multiplied times 10. Is the adrenaline rush what's going to take you through it. Allow yourself a moment to regain control of the situation and execute what you have done for 100's of times. Do not allow yourself to become your worse enemy.

According to Elliot (2014) “One thing a player has to learn is that choking in a situation does not mean that he should avoid taking on a high-pressure situation in the future. Instead, he needs to put himself in lots of high-pressure situations to practice overcoming the negative consequences of stress.” Is just like you practice for your sport or event the same thing needs to happen with dealing with these nerves. In order for the athlete to find the way to cope with the situation is the best advice to be put in that situation to gain some mastery in the process. In today's sports world more and more you are seen a higher present of sport psychology professionals that there to help with this situation on site, or by the team, or individual interventions to help find the necessary coping skills to get through these type of incidents. The future is here and for those old school coaches, you need to understand that times changes, and the new generation of athletes, they need to talk to and help a little more than the those from a few years ago. Perhaps, one can understand, in a way, one considers himself a hard coach.

In conclusion, the athlete needs to put him/herself in a high stage situation as many times as possible to deal with the stress level that could set you over the top and gives you the ability to overcome such pressure. Use positive self-talk, to help you bounce back from that stage, visualization is another great tool to move forward. Having a Sports Psychology Professional could help minimize events of this nature and enhance performance among your athletes. Don't be against yourself, be against your opponents. Good look and play to win. Always!!!

Elliot. D. (2014) Why do Athletes Choke? Pacific Standard. https://psmag.com/why-do-athletes-choke-20c553079ef9#.9nbrzzkao