Stress is a demand that the environment takes place on an individual.
This occurs when there is a difference between what perceive is being demanded of you from the environment and what perceive your are, when you perceive the outcome is important.
There's usually a pattern of negativity physiological states and psychological responses occurring in situations where people perceive threats to their well-being, which they might not be able to achieve.
There are two types of stress; eustress and distress.
Eustress is known as "good" stress and is a type of stress that some people want. This kind of stress is usually used in extreme sports, such as sky diving, bungee jumping, cliff diving, rock climbing, parkour and base jumping. They feel that it improves their performance, either because it helps them concentrate more or because it increases intrinsic motivation as they know they were able to deal with stressful situation.
Distress is known as "bad" stress and is a type of stress that some people don't want. This is most commonly known as stress. It's negative, most notably viewed by individuals as threatening and is bad for performance. It's an extreme form of anxiety, nervousness, apprehension or worry as a result of a perceived inability to achieve the demands placed upon ourselves.
The Stress Process
There are four stages to the stress process.
The first stage is the demand. For example, last free kick of the game. The performer will develop a perception of the demand.
The second stage is the perception of the demand by the athlete. The performer will either develop a positive perception, for example they might think the demand is within their capabilities, or they will develop a negative perception, for example they might think the demand is too much for them to handle.
The third stage is increased arousal levels. The perception is weighed up; if the performer has developed a positive perception, they will start to develop eustress, which will increase energy and intrinsic motivation. However, if the performer has developed a negative perception, the performer will develop distress, which will increase worry.
The last stage is the outcome. If the performer has an increased energy and intrinsic motivation, due to eustress, their performance will increase. However, if the performer has an increased worry, due to distress, their performance will decrease.
Symptoms of Stress
When you are in a situation where you find threatening, the response of stress is activated. The way that you respond depends on how serious you believe the situation is, and the response is controlled by the two nervous systems; the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for providing you with the energy you need to either face any threat or escape from any threat. The responses are that it will lead to an increase in; blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen uptake, sweat and breath rate, as well as a decrease in blood flow to the skin, muscles become more activated and dry mouth.
The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for helping you relax after when the stress has passed. The responses are that it will lead to a decrease in; heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen uptake and breath rate, as well as an increase in blood flow to the skin, the muscles become more relaxed, no more sweat and no more dry mouth.
There are also psychological and behavioural symptoms of stress. Stress can can make you feel worried, feeling overwhelmed, gives the inability to concentrate, make decisions and direct attention appropriately, as well as make you nail bite, pace, scowl, yawn and raise your voice.
Causes of Stress (Stressors)
There are four types of stressors; internal, external, occupational and personal.
Internal stressors are where you place difficult demands on yourself which can lead to stress. For example, you demand yourself to get an A in your exams, or you put pressure on yourself to complete all coursework in a week.
External stressors are when people set you demands that might be difficult to achieve which can lead to stress. For example, your boss expects you to work twelve hours every day, or your teachers' expects you to get As in most of your exams.
Occupational stressors are when things itself can cause stress. For example, working as a doctor can be very stressful, or the coursework can be very stressful.
Personal stressors are when anything personal to you can cause stress. For example, family can be stressful, or your health can be stressful.
The sport can also be a source of stress. For example, when you suffer an injury during a sports competition, and when try to return to full health, it can cause stress. Also, when your two points and your trying to tie up the game can cause stress. Also, when your team-mates are giving you a hard time for performing badly during the game can lead to stress.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a negative state that is either characterised by, or associated with feelings of nervousness, apprehension and worry. There are two forms of anxiety; cognitive and somatic anxiety.
Cognitive anxiety is the psychological responses of anxiety, so when people have feelings and fought of nervousness, worry, doubts and fears. The symptoms are when the athlete experiences high stress is likely to find their movements impaired. The athlete is outside of the peak flow state and performance will suffer, leading them to "choke".
Somatic anxiety is the physiological responses of anxiety, so when the body displays symptoms of sweating, increased heart rate and muscle tension. The symptoms are when attentional changes occur and this may adversely influence the information processing system. If the athlete experiences worry they won't be able to maintain their peak flow state, leading them to "choke".
State and Trait Anxiety
There are also two types of anxiety; state and trait anxiety.
State anxiety is an emotional response to a particular situation. It's characterised by feelings of nervousness and apprehension. It can be temporary.
Trait anxiety is an inbuilt (trait) part of the personality, which means you would have a tendency to be; fearful of unfamiliar situations, perceive competitive situations as threatening and act with apprehension and tension.
In a competitive situation, a performer with high trait anxiety is likely to produce high state anxiety, and performers with low high trait anxiety is not likely to produce high state anxiety.
In sports, there are many factors that can provoke anxiety. In football, there are three factors can provoke anxiety in footballers. One of the factors is the fear of failing/losing. For example, if an athlete was looking to win the FA cup final for the first time, they might fear that their going to lose the match and spoil the chance of winning the FA cup. Another factor is the fear of under-performing. For example, if a striker was aiming to score two goals in a match, they might fear that they won't be able to score, as well as fear of missing every shot. The final factor is pressure of the event. For example, if a footballer was playing at Wembley stadium, they might feel overwhelmed of the event, which can cause anxiety.
Effects of Anxiety on Sports Performance
As the graph shows, when the we get closer to the event, our somatic anxiety starts to increase with a lot of intensity as well as our symptoms. Once the event has started, our somatic anxiety will drop dramatically. Also, the graph shows as we get closer to the event, our cognitive anxiety and the symptoms will gradually increase, but a week before we will have a high level of cognitive anxiety. Once the event has started, our cognitive anxiety will decrease gradually for a few moments, but depending on yourself or how the event is going, we may start to develop a high level of cognitive anxiety, or it will decrease steeply.
Anxiety can have a negative impact on sports performance in many different ways. If you are using skills that require concentration and steady nerves, in sports such as archery, shooting and darts, anxiety can cause poor performance as anxiety leads to reduced concentration and attention. If your using more simple skills, like throwing a ball, anxiety can still have negative impacts as it can cause hyper-elevated muscle tension, and decrease in coordination.
However, anxiety can have positive impacts as well on sports performance. The body becomes activated due to anxiety, and this can cause an increase in breathe rate, heart rate and blood flow to the working muscles which is beneficial as more of these will increase oxygen inhaled and taken to working muscles, therefore can lead to good performance. However if the performer feels that this is happening because they are unable to achieve the demands to a given situation, they'll start to worry and the physiological symptoms will become negative.
When an athlete is performing to their best, they are in their zone of optimal functioning, also known as peak flow.
The characteristics of an elite athlete is somebody who experiences a peak flow, will have skills that are look effortless, automatic and fully controllable. Peak flow is likely to occur when there is high somatic anxiety and low cognitive anxiety. This means that the performer will feel happy and excited.
There are four factors that can facilitate peak flow experience. One of them is anxiety. If cognitive anxiety is controlled, then the athlete has accessed their perfect zone of optimal functioning.
The second factor is concentration. If optimal functioning has been met with low cognitive anxiety, then this will increase cue utilization.
The third factor is attention style. Optimal arousal and controlled anxiety levels will help the athlete match their attention style so that they can achieve the demands of a situation.
The last factor is confidence. Athletes with high confidence traits will most likely become confident in any situation and have high efficiency- expectations.
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