Athletes Handling Emotions During High-Stress Competition

By Micah Clark, Jolie Groves, Ethan Ruggeri, and Conner Underwood

Introduction

Whether one is a collegiate athlete or a professional, hundreds of thoughts are running through the brain of an athlete during competition. These thoughts may be narrow and positive, thus rendering successful outcomes. However, it is not uncommon for athletes to think overconfidently, negatively, or about irrelevant stressors during games or practices, therefore producing negative consequences. No matter what is going on in the athlete’s mind, they need to learn how to handle their emotions during high-stress competitions. This blog post will discuss how athletes typically handle their emotions in comparison to how athletes should be handling their emotions to optimize levels of performance.

Review of the Literature

Common Emotions Among Athletes
Athletes are dealing with multiple stressors and emotions during competition; they may be financial, interpersonal, academic, or athletic-related (Ines, 2021). For example, collegiate athletes are learning how to live independently, balance school, work, and sports, and cope with the pressure a coach puts on performance. Other athletes may be dealing with the loss of a family member, an illness, burnout, or moving homes (Tossici et al., 2024). Moreover, if a scholarship is on the line, or if grades affect playing time, additional stress is put on the athlete. A narrative review by Frontiers in Sport and Active Living stated that increased pressure to perform, both academically and athletically, increases the likelihood of mental health issues like anxiety and depression (Lopes Dos Santos et al., 2020). Because athletes are dealing with multiple stressors simultaneously, performance levels can be negatively impacted, and negative emotions may increase.

Typical Management Tactics
Whether athletes deal with their emotions or push them aside, they use management tactics. A De La Salle University Research Congress article concluded that athletes commonly resort to practicing one of two coping strategies: vigilant coping or cognitive avoidance coping. Ines describes vigilant coping as using positive self-talk, managing time, discussing potential issues or resolutions with teammates, getting adequate sleep, and studying. Cognitive avoidance coping involves working out or playing video games instead of completing academic-related work—in other words, distracting oneself from the issue at hand. Research shows that employing vigilant coping strategies can lead to improved well-being and better stress management outcomes (Ines, 2021).

Emotional Connection to Physical Consequences
Negatively dealing with emotions can cause stress, which in turn can affect one’s physiological response to adversity or reaction times during competition (van Paridon et al., 2017). Moderate stress levels enhance performance, while low and high stress levels interfere with performance and cause distraction (van Paridon et al., 2017). Additionally, in a study conducted on collegiate athletes, decreased mood and increased stress were risk factors for injury and illness (Lopes Dos Santos et al., 2020). Therefore, negative emotions directly impact one’s ability to perform at full potential.

Implication for the Practitioner

Overview
Stress management techniques can be classified as either problem-oriented, more focused on changing the external environment, or emotion-regulated, centered around one’s internal response to external circumstances and stressors (Nuetzel, 2023). While employing problem-oriented strategies, it is critical for athletes to monitor potential burnout symptoms and any additional stress resulting from over-analysis of initial stressors. Approach-based methods tend to be more successful as they allow athletes to focus on their response to various circumstances that could increase stress and negatively impact performance.

Strategies for Athletes
Stress-management tactics not only reduce the amount of stress during competition but also relieve the mind of emotions that are getting in the way of enhanced performance. They aim to build mental toughness by provoking positive thoughts. Athletes should mentally rehearse for competition, while simultaneously believing in their abilities, so they know how to react to challenges as they occur. The most important aspect of rehearsing or imagining a play is to narrow the thought and block out errors or stress-inducing behavior. This includes eliminating inhibitory statements as well. In addition, athletes should self-regulate through practices such as meditation, full-body relaxation, deep breathing, or body scans. The mind-body connection during stressful competitions is of utmost importance as opposing forces would fail to perform (Bhadauriya, 2018).

Finding ways to enjoy or look forward to competition can work to ease any pre-game nerves. Some athletes do this by listening to music. According to the Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics, “Research shows that listening to soothing music can lower blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety” (Bhadauriya, 2018, p. 71). Having teammates to reach out to for advice or laugh with is also a great source of decompression (Nuetzel, 2023).

Strategies for Coaches
Coaches should consider that stressed athletes are more susceptible to illness, injury, and mental health issues, all of which impact performance levels. Ensuring that players have someone to reach out to benefits both the athletes and the game. “Based on the number of hours coaches spend with their athletes, they are in an optimal position to assist athletes with developing effective coping strategies to manage stress” (Lopes Dos Santos et al., 2020, p. 2). Not to mention, studies show that “...teammates play an important role in the experience and appraisal of stress and coping in team sports” (Nuetzel, 2023, p. 4). Therefore, implementing team-bonding activities could potentially produce more wins. Coaches have more of a role than they may think when it comes to handling athletes’ emotions.

Conclusion

Athletes have emotions just like every other person. The way they handle their emotions prior to and during competition impacts their performance, thereby affecting a competition’s outcome. Athletes should become aware of their emotions and practice coping mechanisms to determine how these emotions are influencing their ability to compete in high-stress situations. Implementing stress-management tactics such as positive self-talk, imagery or rehearsal, meditation, or something as simple as listening to music can create results. Coaches and teammates also play an important role in athletes’ emotions. Because athletes have multiple internal and external factors to deal with during competition, learning how to handle their emotions is critical to achieving optimal performance.

References

Bhadauriya, B., & Tripathi, R. (2018). Stress management technique for athletes during sports: A critical review. Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics, 8(5-s), 67–72. https://doi.org/10.22270/jddt.v8i5-s.1956

Ines, J. V. (2021). Stress and Coping Strategies of College Student-Athletes , 1–6. https://www.dlsu.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/pdf/conferences/research-congress-proceedings/2021/LLI-12.pdf#:~:text=Findings%20reveal%20that%20stress%20experienced%20by%20
athletes%20come%20in%20the

Lopes Dos Santos, M., Uftring, M., Stahl, C. A., Lockie, R. G., Alvar, B., Mann, J. B., & Dawes, J. J. (2020). Stress in academic and athletic performance in collegiate athletes: A narrative review of sources and monitoring strategies. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.00042

Nuetzel, B. (2023). Coping strategies for handling stress and providing mental health in Elite Athletes: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 5, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1265783

Tossici, G., Zurloni, V., & Nitri, A. (2024). Stress and sport performance: A PNEI multidisciplinary approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1358771

van Paridon, K. N., Timmis, M. A., Nevison, C. M., & Bristow, M. (2017). The anticipatory stress response to sport competition; a systematic review with meta-analysis of cortisol reactivity. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 3(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2017-000261