Anxiety
Over anxiety to do well causes high levels of stress and involves worrying that failure may occur. Some competitors can cope with anxiety and are mainly calm; I think Steven Gerrard is a very good example because he can keep calm in very important situations such as an FA Cup Final or Champions League Final. If personal motivation becomes too great then performance can suffer.
There are two types or Anxiety:-
This is a personality trait that is enduring in the individual. A performer with high trait anxiety has the predisposition or the potential to react to situations with appreciation. Trait anxiety comes from you and your own worries. West Ham is a good example because they had a spell of losing 4-0 for a couple of games, so when they had to play their rivals Tottenham they were on the back of two 4-0 defeats so the team were feeling that they couldn’t lose 4-0 again especially to Spurs. Even though they went into the game with this attitude, they lost 4-0 again. Roger Federer is one of the best tennis players in the world, he can beat anyone but the only player that can get near to beating him is Nadal, he has lost to him quite a few times and Ferderer will fear playing Nadal because of this.
This is anxiety in a particular situation (competitive), this is where you worry about the environment you play in, and feeling more under pressure, for example footballers play really well in a training match but when they have to play in front of 70,000 people in a world cup match its completely different. I play really well when I’m not under pressure, but when I have a game I sometimes get a bit nervous and don’t play as well as I could. I can play really well when I’m doing a rally in tennis but when I play a competitive match I feel more under pressure. Pressure can often cause stress for a lot of people, like if your taking a penalty, if its during the game and your winning anyway it may not be so bad but when you have a penalty in the last minute of the game and the score is 1-1, the blame could get put on you if you miss it.
Arousal
Arousal is another term for the amount of motivational drive that a sports performer has. High arousal can lead to high levels of stress. Arousal is good for sport up until a certain point. Once you get past that point arousal can get you aggravated and cause you to under perform in your sport. It can often lead to consequences as well, for example Eric Cantona got annoyed to easily with his high arousal and ended up attacking a member of the public and was banned from the game for 9 months. As arousal gets even higher, then performance starts to decline. Therefore at very low levels and very high levels performance is poor. A moderate level of arousal is optimum for the best possible performance. I often get very annoyed when I get taken off for Feering, especially when I feel that I shouldn’t have been taken off. I also find it hard to come on as a sub in a game and play to my best. If I feel I should be winning a tennis game and I’m not, and don’t see it going my way, I get very annoyed with myself. If a player misses a penalty in a shoot out to decide the game, they could blame themselves and get very annoyed with themselves.
Personality Factors
This is “an individuals characteristics that make him/her unique”.
A psychologist finds links between certain types of people and success in sports.
There are four types of personality factors;
Extrovert is some one that seeks social situations and likes excitement, lacks concentration. This is someone that is more for fun with no pressure under them, I am like this in some ways, I enjoy playing for fun and seem to play better. I can’t get on with something without getting distracted. Floyd Mayweather loves excitement, he is very arrogant and knows he is the best, he doesn’t ever have pressure under him unless he is on the brink of losing, but so far in his career he hasn’t been close enough to lose. Christiano Ronaldo is one of the best footballers in the world, he knows he is and he loves it, when he is off the field he is under no pressure and probably plays better at training or in a kick about.
Introvert is not simply a person who is shy. Being shy has little to do with being an introvert. Shyness has an element of apprehension, nervousness and anxiety, and while an introvert may also be shy, introversion itself is not shyness. Basically, an introvert is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people. Paul Scholes is a good example because he never gives an interview to people, even if he was the man of the match or scores a great goal, he is still a quiet man, he gets on with his job which is to play football and leaves it at that. Someone playing a sport individually like a tennis player can be introvert because they have one thing to concentrate on and there are various ways to get them in the mood like listening to music, this helps to get them completely focused and in the mood.
Stable is someone that does not swing from one emotion to another, this is someone who does not moan about being picked last or not being involved in the sport, as long as they are part of it. Theo Walcott got picked in the 2006 world cup at a very young age, he didn’t get on in the whole of the tournament but he was just pleased to be involved. Anyone who is young and had enthusiasm will be stable, I don’t think there are many stable people in sport at the moment, in football when a foul is committed, the player usually will play up and there will end up being a fight on the field. This usually results in a player getting sent off.
Neurotic is someone that is unpredictable, it is when you cannot understand what the person is about to do, football is the best example for this because its about someone that you don’t know what they are going to do next, players can sport neurotic people if they have really good awareness, but often they are neurotic themselves. A good example of this is Wayne Rooney, you can’t predict what he is going to do with the ball or what he is going to do when he doesn’t have the ball, Ballack from Chelsea is another good example. Goal Keepers may be good because you don’t know which way they will go or what there going to do. They concentrate on just the people who are attacking against the goal but they are still unpredictable.
In this assignment I have outlined the psychological factors that affect sports training and performance, I have also described the psychological factors that can affect sports training and performance and I then analysed the psychological factors that affect sports raining and performance. I feel I can get over anxiety when I am playing football, I sometimes get taken off in a game when I feel I shouldn’t have and I get very upset with my self and sometimes even my manager, because I sometimes feel he has a grudge for me, even though he doesn’t. I think it can be good to have anxiety in tennis because when I get aggravated I am more in the mood for playing tennis and I return the ball harder.