Summary
Why do some athletes choke under pressure, while others thrive? Mark Otten from Cal State Northridge may have the answer. Otten has shown that when pressure causes athletes to “reinvest” attention in a task (i.e. over-think), anxiety increases. This anxiety results in higher self-consciousness and impairs performance. However, increased feelings of control under pressure, or confidence in one's ability to determine outcomes, do improve performance.
Don't Choke
Feb 6th, 2010
Click here to access the full article from the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology
By IntelliSport
Implementation
- Coaches should steer athletes away from reinvesting attention in competitive tasks (e.g. over-thinking the mechanics of a putt or a free throw) to reduce performance anxiety.
- To improve performance, coaches should train athletes to have feelings of confidence and control of competitive outcomes (e.g. confidently believing you have control of the outcome of the game when kicking a last-second field goal).
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