stuck in their head), or become overly conscious of their motor-movements (i.e. When attention is shifted to irrelevant internal information, the individual can either be overly focused on their own psychological state (i.e. The negative effects of stress has an adverse effect on performance because it shifts attention away from task- relevant information that is critical for optimal performance, and then places it on task- irrelevant information (either internally or externally) that is unrelated to performance. How you perceive this pressure then influences where you place your attention, which plays a major role in performance. Physiological – They are overly aroused leading to feelings of anxiety Mental – The individual is worried about potentially making a mistake If the stress is perceived as a threat, the individual does not feel that they are prepared with sufficient resources and evaluates the situation as a potential harm to their self-esteem. Physiological – They have optimal levels of arousal that is felt as excitement and used as energy Mental – The individual is confident in their abilities This has both a mental (psychological) and physiological effect. The most clutch athletes in the world are able to perceive pressure situations as a challenge, meaning they feel that they have prepared effectively and have sufficient resources to rise to the occasion. How Do You Perceive Stress – Challenge or Threat? Like anything else, this is a skill that can be trained, but in order to properly develop it you must first learn why athletes choke under pressure in the first place.īroadly speaking, choking refers to “a failure to perform up to whatever level of skill and ability the person has at that time” and pressure has been defined as “any factor or combination of factors that increases the importance of performing well on a particular occasion”. With that being said, it is not the pressure itself that causes choking or the stress that it induces, but it is the way this stress is perceived, and how it affects our attentional/visuomotor system that does. Being able to mitigate these effects, and even use them to your advantage, is how athletes like Michael Jordan, Christiano Ronaldo, and Tom Brady are able to consistently execute during crunch time. These are the effects of pressure, and is a signal that the outcome of this situation is important to you. Your heart is pounding, breathing is heavy, you have trouble focusing, the butterflies in your stomach are out of control, and skills you have performed thousands of times suddenly feel awkward. If you have ever been in a high-pressure situation, you can attest to the fact that it feels NOTHING like it did in your backyard. We all can think back to a time when we were practicing in the backyard, counting down the seconds to make the game-winning play “3, 2, 1, ERRR.” We come up short, but it’s okay because we just go back and try again, and again, and again, until finally “Oh my god! What a play! They win the championship!” These are the moments every athlete dreams of, but unfortunately they only come around so often, and being able to execute on them can completely transform a season, a program, or even a career.

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