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Core 2 Factors affecting performance
How can psychology affect performance?
Managing anxiety
Athletes need to be able to manage anxiety effectively if they are to achieve their optimal performance level.
Anxiety can be defined as the concerns, thoughts and feelings associated with an approaching performance. There are several ways in which anxiety can be managed. These include:
Concentration and attention skills. This refers to the ability of the athlete to focus their thoughts and energy into the task at hand. It allows for distractions (e.g a crowd) to be minimised.
Mental rehearsal and visualisation. This involves practising the performance in your mind. When mentally rehearsing you produce a successful performance over and over again. This allows you to picture a performance in your mind and gives your body a ‘map’ or ‘blue print’ to produce a movement. It helps the performer focus on the movements required to produce an optimal performance.
Relaxation techniques. These are ways to reduce the risk of over-arousal before a performance. Relaxation helps lower the stress level of the body before a performance.
Goal setting. Setting goals allows an athlete’s progress to be planned and monitored over a period of time. It can also increase motivation and commitment levels of the athlete. Goals need to be realistic and achievable in the time frame established. Goals may relate to areas such as the overall performance, specific skills involved, strategies and fitness.
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Complete the following questions:
To check your answers or explore each of these areas click on the key word to go to a web site or page within the site. Concentration skills
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How does it lead to flow
during movement skill execution?
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