Anxiety In Sports

The psychological factor thought to influence sports performance, anxiety is considered the most important. This concept has been the focus of sport psychologists for many of years as anxiety impacts performance in several of ways (Humara, 1999). Evident in the work of Raglin and Hanin (2000) as high levels of anxiety is harmful to performance. Majority of athletes consider anxiety to be an interfering factor to sports performance (Weinberg & Gould, 2011) as anxiety is seen be negative emotions that affect perceptions in sport settings. As anxiety is connected to not being able to think clearly and increased muscle tension and heart rate – in sport psychology anxiety is defined as a state of apprehension, tension and heightened arousal of the

Although, not a component of anxiety, Martens et al., (1990) concluded the inclusion of self-confidence (separate cognitive component) would aid performance. Self-confidence is classes as one’s internal belief in meeting the demands of the task to be performed (Woodman & Hardy, 2003). The importance of self-confidence on performance is well documented, for example Gould, Weiss and Weinberg (1981) noted that self –confidence helps in identifying athletes who are successful from unsuccessful. Burton (1988) and Martens et al., (1990) found that cognitive anxiety affects performance negatively and somatic anxiety impacts performance in a curvilinear fashion while self-confidence has a positive influence on performance (Chamberlin & Hale, 2007). It can be concluded that it is essential for athletes to have the ability to cope with anxiety (Hardy et al., 1996) so that they can meet the demands of the task in order to perform well. Therefore, leading practitioners to employ strategies in attempt to help control anxiety and raise self-confidence in attempt to increase