Stress & Energy Management
Stress is extremely present in competition, before learning to deal or resolve your stressors, it is important to understand what factors may cause stress.
– Competitive stressors: those that are associated with competitive performance (performance expectations)
– Organization stressors: those that are directed with sport organizations (sport relationships, interpersonal demands)
– Personal stressors: those that are directly with the personal life of the individual (lifestyle issues)
Management Skills and Strategies to Prevent Stress
– Advice-seeking: Seek support from an individual, or group of individuals in an attempt to cope with a stressor.
– Information Gathering: Involve athletes undertaking an analysis of their future or past opponent. By gathering information and becoming familiar with an opponent an athlete becomes more controlled of his performance seeing opponents less as a threat.
– Planning:
Brings about the process of thinking about the activities that you want to achieve and their goals. Depending on the activity they can either be long term or short term goals.
Casey Dellacqua for Just One Breath
Confirming Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise
Put one hand on your abdomen and the other on your upper chest. If you are taking a deep, complete breath from the diaphragm, the hand on your abdomen will move out with the inhalation and in with the exhalation, while the hand on the chest remains relatively still.
Concentration breathing is a good exercise to practice when you are having difficulties with distracting thoughts or actions. This allows all attention to be focused on your breathing. If your mind begins to wonder, find yourself following the steps above to redirect your attention to become more relaxed with each exhalation. It is important to focus on the rhythm of your breathing!
Looking forward to your success in managing your stress and energy on and off the court!
Best,
Peter Lee
