STRESS MANAGEMENT

Source : INTERNET

MISCONCEPTION 1: STRESS IS
HIGH SITUATIONAL DEMAND
are not inherently stressful because
Situations
competitive demands exceed performers response

capabilities such as shooting a free throw or taking a

penalty kick with the game on the line, playing a
tiebreaker in a tennis match, having a sudden death
playoff in golf, or batting with the game tied in the
ninth in baseball.
Olympic Finals, Superbowls, seventh games of NBA,
NHL or Major League Baseball Championship Series,
the final holes of the Masters or a tie breaker at
Wimbleton are not innately stressful.

STRESSFUL LIFE
EVENTS RESEARCH
Individuals who experience stressful life events
such as taking a new job, moving, getting married
or divorced, having a baby, losing a loved one,
dealing with serious medical problems report
higher stress levels than those with mundane lives.
Sport has many competitive experiences that can
be stressful such as playing for a new team, having
a new coach, moving up or down in competitive
level, going through a slump, experiencing lengthy
winning or losing streaks or getting benched or
starting unexpectedly.

STRESS = ACCUMULATION
OF DAILY HASSLES
Lifes daily hassles include: the alarm not going

off, being late for class, missing an

appointment, breaking a shoestring, fighting
with a friend, forgetting an assignment or
burning dinner.
Sport hassles include: equipment malfunctions,
weather problems, your coach is in a bad mood,
a teammate repeatedly makes the same
mistake, and you feel tired and a step slow.

MISCONCEPTION 2: STRESS IS
AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE

Heightened activation of the autonomic

nervous system due to perceived threat

doesnt always create stress.
No matter how great the environmental
demand, you will not be stressed as long
as you believe you have the response
capabilities to deal with it.

WHAT IS STRESS?

Stress is a substantial imbalance

between environmental demand (i.e.,

what you perceive is being demanded of
you) and response capabilities (i.e., what
you perceive your capabilities are for
meeting those demands), when you
perceive success to be important
(McGrath, 1970).

LAZARUS MODEL
OF STRESS

primary appraisal
secondary appraisal
coping resources

PRIMARY APPRAISAL

Performers evaluate the impact of

the upcoming situation on their
physical and psychological wellbeing.
They ask the question, Whats at
stake in this situation for me?

COMPONENTS OF
PRIMARY APPRAISAL

goal importance the degree to which the

situation will impact attainment of valued

personal goals.
ego identity the extent that you identify with
or are committed to attaining your goals,
goal uncertainty the degree to which you are
unsure of whether you can attain your personal
goals.

SECONDARY APPRAISAL
When primary appraisal confirms that

something meaningful is at stake in the

situation, secondary appraisal assesses how well
competitors can manage the demands of the
situation.
They ask the question, What can be done?
Performers evaluate how much personal control
they have over preventing or overcoming harm
and maximizing their chances for achieving
positive outcomes.

COMPONENTS OF
SECONDARY APPRAISAL
perceived control assesses whether personal coping
efforts can reduce or eliminate the source of
uncertainty in the situation.

How much control do I have over eliminating my anxiety

about playing poorly in tonights big game?

coping potential If the source of stress is

controllable, coping potential is your evaluation of

whether you have the necessary coping resources to
actually reduce or eliminate the source of uncertainty
in this situation.

Do I have the skills/strategies to manage this?

Can I make them work in this situation?

OVERALL APPRAISAL
Whether overall appraisal of the situation is

viewed positively as a challenge or benefit or

negatively as a threat or harm/loss depends on
ones responses to two critical secondary
appraisal questions:

How much control do I have to reduce or eliminate

the source of stress?
What is my potential ability to cope with these
sources of stress, both the options available to me
and the potential effectiveness of those options?

CHALLENGE APPRAISALS

Challenge appraisals put a positive

spin on competition, focusing on the

opportunity to overcome obstacles and
achieve success.
Challenge appraisals normally prompt

optimistic emotions,
constructive coping strategies, and
effective performance.

THREAT APPRAISALS
Threat appraisals occur when performers

appraise control over sources of stress as low

and/or perceive low coping potential.
Threat appraisal highlights the negatives of a
specific situation, emphasizing the threat of
failure due to the inability to overcome obstacles.
Threat appraisals prompt

pessimistic emotions,
ineffective problem-solving strategies, and
subpar performance.

COPING RESOURCES

Coping strategies are the actual cognitive

and behavioral techniques that athletes

employ to deal with problems and to
improve emotional well-being.
Two major categories of coping strategies
have been identified:

problem-solving and
emotion-management.

PROBLEM-SOLVING

Cognitive and behavioral strategies that

focus on changing the source of stress and

encompass a host of strategies such as
self-monitoring
planning,
reducing

competing activities,
increasing effort,
informational social support,
self talk, and
active coping.

EMOTION-MANAGEMENT

Cognitive and behavioral techniques

designed to decrease emotional distress,

even if the source of threat remains
unchanged, boosting morale through . . .
emotional

social support,
relaxation,
reappraisal and positive thinking,
wishful thinking,
self blame and isolation, and
mental and behavioral withdrawal.

POSITIVE APPRAISAL
EMOTIONS

self-confidence a positive belief or

expectation of success
excitement/readiness physical
activation of the autonomic nervous
system that is interpreted as effective
physical preparation.

NEGATIVE APPRAISAL
EMOTIONS

cognitive anxiety a negative belief or

expectation of success or worrying about

the negative consequences of failure.
somatic anxiety physiological and
affective component of anxiety that
develops directly from activation of the
autonomic nervous system that is
interpreted negatively.

Model of Competitive Emotions

Facilitative

self-confidence

excitement
readiness

Physical

Mental
cognitive anxiety

somatic anxiety

Debilitative

WHAT IS STRESS
MANAGEMENT?

Stress Management is a process

designed to reduce or eliminate the

negative consequences of stress,
particularly mental and physical
anxiety, in order to help performers
feel better emotionally and perform
up to their capabilities.

PROBLEM-SOLVING
STRATEGIES

competitive engineering
personal engineering
problem-solving and
mental plans

COMPETITIVE
ENGINEERING

reducing unnecessary
uncertainty
removing excessive

importance dont
overemphasize winning

PERSONAL
ENGINEERING

increasing personal control

focus on process goals

enhance performance
capabilities (e.g., conditioning,
skills & strategies)

DEVELOP PROBLEMSOLVING SKILLS

use personal science approach

break situations down into

parts, and
constantly critique problemsolving efforts.

CONSTRUCT MENTAL
PLANS

systematic approach to handling

frequently-encountered problem
situations,
game plan for dealing with
problems,
Mental Plans deal with problems
before, during and after practice
and competition.

EMOTION
MANAGEMENT MODEL

arousal-triggered stress

and
thought-triggered stress.

TOTAL EMOTION
MANAGEMENT PACKAGES

rapid relaxation is

combined with self talk

using a systematic process to
develop an integrated
coping response.

TOTAL EMOTION
MANAGEMENT PACKAGES

Stress Management Training

(SMT) and

Stress Inoculation Training

(SIT)

TOTAL EMOTION
MANAGEMENT PACKAGES

Common rationale combination of

relaxation and self talk copes with all types of
stress,
Systematic approach chunks situations into
parts, sets process goals, helps to create Flow
mindset, and provides a backup plan to deal
with problems.
Automate component skills
Develops an Integrated Coping Response
(ICR)

TEMPs PRACTICE
STRATEGIES

Total Immersion practices

managing maximum stress.
Gradual Exposure --

rehearses handling gradually

increasing stress levels