Young people experience significant stress because of the inherently competitive nature of sports, pressure to perform in front of large audiences, and insecurities and unsureness in their abilities. This essay aims to explore the psychological aspects of performance anxiety in sports, specifically its prevalence among the youth. This essay also touches on the relationships between athletes and their coaches, families, and teams. It discusses a method of counseling a child, aged 13, which includes mental health training and assessment.
It is necessary for the exploration of the causes and solutions to performance anxiety to assess scholarly articles on the subject. Ford and others (2017) describe anxiety as “a response to a stressful sport-related situation, which the individual perceives as potentially stressful, resulting in a range of cognitive appraisals, behavioral responses, and physiological arousals” (p. 206). The resulting consequences of anxiety are sweating, increased heart rate, fidgeting, restlessness, negative thoughts, inattention, and an increased possibility of injury. Anxiety negatively affects the athlete’s overall performance, causing them to receive worse results than they would in a calm atmosphere. The authors’ main conclusion is that mental health professionals need to treat anxiety in athletes as soon as possible.
Other sources give context for the young sportspeople’s performance anxiety beyond the stressful situations they are in. O’Donoghue & Neil (2015) explain the relationship between age, gender, and stress from anxiety. They found that younger players had a slightly higher degree of performance anxiety than older players due to lesser physical abilities and differences. It is evident that another factor of stress from performance is physicality. A study by Ramis and others (2015) focused on “identifying differences in anxiety symptoms across groups that differ by gender, age or type of sport” (p. 175). The study has limitations because of language differences in the perception of words such as “worry” and “concern.” However, it showed there were differences in somatic anxiety between gender and age groups. Contrary to the previous study, it showed that older athletes face more anxiety because of higher expectations to perform. Schwebel and others (2016) examined the relationship between athletes and their coaches and parents, and they concluded that children tended to gravitate to one or the other for support and advice. These variables are necessary for a personalized approach to counseling athletes.
The young person’s performance anxiety is not the only variable to assess treatment. According to Mottaghi et al. (2013), “athletes’ expectations of themselves, their goals, their images of their coaches, and their teammates’ expectations of them are factors effective in causing anxiety.” (p. 72). Coaches can affect the performance of the people they train if they actively express their own fear of failure. It is evident that the coach’s demeanor is very important before the performance.
The Oxford handbook of sport and performance psychology is a book that explains methods to deal with performance anxiety and routines to help athletes with stress. The main point is that concentration is very important. Another source states that previous trauma sustained during training or performances affects the sportsman’s anxiety (Grand & Goldberg, 2011). Trauma encompasses injuries and psychological wounds, and their mental consequences may cause repetitive problems when playing. Grand & Goldberg (2011) outline the fight/flight/freeze responses when triggered. Fight is overreaction and aggression, flight is the tendency to leave the stressful situation, and freeze is perhaps the most damaging because it paralyzes the athlete and makes it impossible to perform.
Such insights into the reason and outcomes of performance anxiety provide the opportunity to outline a counseling method. The theoretical approach to helping youths in sports will consist of finding the optimal coaching strategy, minimizing stress in their lives, and providing healthy motivation to succeed. This method is incredibly effective in easing anxiety and strengthening the athlete’s inner will while assessing their gender, age, and other subsequent factors.
Young people are especially vulnerable to insecurities, anxiety, and depression. The additional pressure to perform and compete with others will cause the athlete to struggle mentally and emotionally. Struggling young people, especially those who have a family history of mental illnesses and trauma, are especially prone to developing eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, and low self-esteem. Young athletes cannot deal with the pressure and often decide to quit sports (Kids Sports Psychology, n.d.). According to Premier Sports Psychology (n.d.), improving athletes performance consists of providing them with adequate mental health care. They provide services such as “optimal mindset training; increasing confidence and motivation; healing imagery; energy regulation; and focus training.” The athlete’s prior mental state, prior health concerns, age, and gender must also be incorporated into the counseling.
Lastly, finding the right coach who can connect with the young person and be a positive influence on their life. Coaches must put the mental and physical health of their trainees as a priority. Peak Performance Sports (n.d.) describes this kind of coach as a “mental performance coach.” Such a coach develops the athlete’s mental skills, motivates them to succeed, raises their confidence, and helps them handle pressure and training, which eventually positively affects their performance. A combination of these techniques will provide the athlete with a stable support system, ensuring their mental health does not deteriorate and a mindset to succeed. Confidence in their abilities gives the young person the motivation and strategies to focus on the competition.
The practical application of this theory should be strategic and helpful; the coach should ask for feedback from the athlete on their counseling. First of all, establishing a strong connection between the coach and young athlete is imperative. Bonding activities, like games and deep conversations, are the key to reaching this goal. Specifically, discussing the childs motivation for playing and winning is important. After the relationship has been formed, the mental performance coach should assess the emotional stability of the athlete and adequately prepare a strategy to improve it. The person’s age and gender must be included in this strategy. Hypothetically, if the child is a 13-year-old girl, then the counseling should be heavily tailored to the typical struggles of young girls. At this age, girls are vulnerable to self-esteem issues because their body is rapidly changing at this stage of puberty. She may struggle with low body image or self-esteem issues, for which she will need help from a mental health professional who ideally specializes in working with children and teenagers.
The activities to reduce stress must be consistent with focus training. The mental training process is aimed at increasing concentration on the task or activity, and the goal is not to get distracted. This training forces the athlete’s attention off of their body, the audience, or the possibility of failure and on to the actual activity. With a clear mind, they are able to play to their full ability and improve performance without experiencing anxiety.
In conclusion, athletes are prone to performance anxiety because of insecurities, high degrees of pressure, and insecurities. Factors such as gender, age, the type of sport, level of anxiety of the coach, and prior sustained trauma will affect the athlete’s performance. Concentration and confidence are key to dealing with performance anxiety. This paper prepared a method of counseling athletes struggling with performance anxiety, which included mental health treatment and the involvement of a mental performance coach. It also outlined the exact steps a coach should take to ensure their athlete’s success in competition while also ensuring their health stays stable.
References
Ford, J.L., Ildefonso, K., Jones, M.L., & Arvinen-Barrow, M. (2017). Sport-related anxiety: current insights. Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine, 8, 205-212. Web.
Grand, D., & Goldberg, A. (2011). This is your brain on sports: beating blocks, slumps and performance anxiety for good! Dog Ear Publishing.
Kids Sports Psychology. (n.d.). Web.
Mottaghi, M., Atarodi, A., & Rohani, Z. (2013). The Relationship between coaches’ and athletes’ competitive anxiety, and their performance. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 7(2), 68-76.
Murphy, S. (Ed.). (2012). The Oxford handbook of sport and performance psychology. Oxford University Press.
O’Donoghue, P., & Neil, R. (2015). Relative age effect on behavioral regulation, burnout potential and anxiety of sports students. European Journal of Human Movement, 35, 1-11. Web.
Peak Performance Sports. (n.d.). Mental Performance Coach. Web.
Premier Sports Psychology. (n.d.). Referral Guidance for Coaches. Web.
Ramis L. Y., Viladrich S. M. C., Sousa, C. D. P. D., & Jannes, C. (2015). Exploring the factorial structure of the sport anxiety scale-2: Invariance across language, gender, age and type of sport. Psicothema, 27 (2), 174-181. Web.
Schwebel, F. J., Smith, R. E., & Smoll, F. L. (2016). Measurement of perceived parental success standards in sport and relations with athletes’ self-esteem, performance anxiety, and achievement goal orientation: Comparing parental and coach influences. Child Development Research, 2016. Web.