January Newsletter
We are all too familiar with the vision of watching an athlete spin out and crash under the pressure of competition. They might start out confident as they find their footing, then a challenge arises and they crack. More mistakes follow with a visible downfall in their attitude, effort, and body language. It is hard to watch and even harder to experience personally. But this doesn’t have to be the norm.
These types of negative snowballs occur because the athlete doesn’t feel capable to persevere through the challenge they are facing. Whether its because they feel they have to prove something to overcome the initial mistake leading them down the road of forcing things and stepping outside their preparation (never a good idea, we practice for a reason), or they feel defeated by the challenge and play it safe until they are out of the woods (also not a good idea, trying not to make a mistake usually is followed by a mistake).
The options athletes have after a mistake or a difficult situation are clear-Cope with it and recover or struggle through until its over. A lot of athletes will try to push their way though fighting until the last second, but too often that fight is misdirected by unproductive and ineffective coping mechanisms. Those usually look like rumination on the challenge or unregulated anger leading further down that rabbit hole of mistakes. However, if an athlete can use that same fight and grit but redirect it into coping mechanisms that are more fruitful, that cycle can be broken and they can overcome the challenge building their confidence and resilience in the process.
So, what are those coping mechanisms? They can look different based on each athlete but generally, the research shows (top athletes can attest to this), that resetting, cognitive restructuring, and adjusting focus prove to be the most supportive through difficult competitive circumstances.
Resetting can be as simple as taking a deep breath and pausing giving the athlete time to emotionally regulate and start from ground zero.
Cognitive restructuring looks like adjusting how the athlete is viewing the situation-ie. a bad call can be seen simply as information moving forward rather than a spark for anger.
Adjusting focus is making the switch from focusing on things outside of ones control (refs, past mistakes, etc) and refocusing on what is presently in the athletes control (their immediate next step)
There are more options to cope through challenging situations during competition but these three options lay a strong foundational base to build off of and avoid those negative snowballs in the future.
For specific research on the matter: