if they merely performed as well in competition as they did in training.
Competitive sport highlights the fragility of an athlete's perceived self-beliefs.
Psychologist Richard S Lazarus (84) states that "stress and anxiety primarily
arise when we can't handle the approaching problem."
People can become frightened when a stressor is perceived as overwhelming
or when they believe that there is no way to escape or solve a problem. Tom
Watson, the famous golfer, explained that it wasn't until he won the British
Open that he really started to believe in his own ability, as he used to let a poor
golf round affect him, but winning that major tournament gave him the
confidence to progress. It is apparent that for many the belief in themselves is
built upon positive and successful experiences where they performed a high
level. What's interesting is that many rely on others to tell them that they played
well rather than just knowing deep down that they performed well. These
athletes are the ones who question their own beliefs and often expect to lose.
Peter worked as Physical Education Teacher in a Secondary school and
believes that many of the foundations of negative beliefs and poor attitudes to
sport are started at school. He remembers one extremely talented and skilful
football player who had an interesting and fairly typical pattern to his
performance in competition. The boy would always excel if he perceived the
opposition to be of a lower standard than himself. However, when playing
against opposition that he perceived to be as good as him or better he would go
to pieces, moving away from physical challenges and hiding on the pitch as if it
was the last place on earth he wanted to be. This type of behaviour is called
"choking" in sport psychology terminology. It is when we feel nervous,
believing we can't manage the situation as it is out of our comfort zone. This
type of response is very common even among some of the greater players.
When this young boy was faced with these two different competitive situations
his mind reacted in two opposing ways. This is commonly called the "fight or
flight response". As he did not believe that he could play well against players as
good as or better than himself he reacted in a way that supported his belief.
Time was spent with him doing some simple reframes around this type of
experiences. The first thing suggested to him was, when faced with the
situation, pretend that to be better than the rest and imagine that you can
overcome any obstacle that is thrown your way. Tell yourself over and again "I
can do this, I'm a winner".
The education system in this country doesn't actively encourage children to
believe in themselves; it rather makes them aware of their mistakes, i.e. what
they can't do, what they got wrong. The way Physical Education is taught has
changed, especially since the National Curriculum, with less dictated and more
reciprocal styles of teaching being encouraged. However, too many children
still experience their first failings and feelings of humiliation on the sports
pitch. P.E should provide children with many positive reference experiences
that are based on real, progressive development. This would no doubt help to
build stronger self-efficacy beliefs, which would in turn, encourage children to
believe in themselves more and to constantly achieve. Perhaps then we would