What Causes Or Impairs Performance Under Pressure?

“If athletes could think any way they wanted and still play their best game, winning would be determined by skill and effort alone.” (Valiante & Stachura, 2005) It can be a head scratcher to see an athlete go from near perfection, to looking as if he or she has never played a game in their career. Take your everyday baseball pitcher for instance. He can go from being un-hittable, too not being able to hit the strike zone. How often do you see a golfer play three amazing days, but when reality sets in that they have an opportunity to win, they most often crumble and succumb to the pressure. What causes these athletes to falter when needed most? How do athletes overcome this lingering effect of not performing to their best abilities under pressure?

Choking ultimately is an athlete’s inability to perform up to a set standard that he himself, or even his coaches has set for him. The pressure factor most commonly occurs when an athlete begins to have high anxiety, which is typically the major cause, and this can, very much lead to a direct decline in performance. What inspires, or impairs, performance under pressure? (Omoregie & Adegbesan, 2011) defined pressure as “any factor or combination of factors that increases the importance of performing well.” In this day and age, some Psychologists and athletes say that pressure is an illusion and its ones excuse if he or she performs poorly. The most important concept in dealing with pressure is to start with the realization that there is no such thing as competition pressure, except what you make of it in your mind. Pressure isn’t something that happens to athletes; it’s a thought process in their minds that has set in. Aside from the physical pressure exerted on one opponent by another on the field, pressure in the competitive context isn’t real because it simply doesn’t exist. It doesn’t have a form, a color, or a smell. Pressure is simply how we perceive the situation we are in. Athletes need to learn this, because once they understand that pressure is something they create, then and only then, will they also understand that pressure is therefore something they can

Athletes who react good to pressure can be described as psychologically sound, whereas athletes, who exhibit not common responses to pressure, may experience choking under pressure. (Mesango & Marchant, 2008) When we think of personal performance, what are we actually saying? Although personal performance can’t be specifically defined, it’s believed to be measured by an athlete’s outcome of the game he or she has played. How did the athlete prepare himself for the game? What goals has he or she set prior to kickoff, or tipoff? It’s amazing how an athletes mind and thinking, plays such a big part in how they