Q:
06. My child gets so nervous before a competition.
Is this natural? What can I do to help her to reduce
this competitive pressure/stress?
A:
To a degree, nervousness is part of the competitive
experience and can be used as an opportunity to
teach the young athlete specific strategies or
skills to help her manage this arousal or
nervousness. A simple skill that young athletes can
learn to help manage the “butterflies in their
stomachs” is belly breathing. The athlete is taught
to take slow, deep breaths into her belly, hold it
briefly, and then exhale slowly. Words can be
included to help the athlete focus her thoughts on
something besides worry. This is a quick strategy
that helps calm the body and mind and only takes a
few seconds to do. Another skill to help the athlete
deal with muscular tightness brought on by
nervousness is progressive muscle relaxation. In
this procedure, the athlete goes through the major
muscles in her body and first tenses and then
relaxes each muscle. This teaches athletes to learn
the difference between a tense and relaxed muscle,
to learn where different muscles are located, and to
eventually be able to relax specific muscles as
necessary. Remember that these skills must be taught
and practiced before the athlete will be able to use
them effectively.
We also know that excessive anxiety can be
damaging to both performance and to the athlete's
desire to enter such situations in the future. Two
factors which have been found to play a role in the
level of anxiety experienced are the importance of
the event and the uncertainly of the outcome.
Greater importance and greater uncertainty lead to
increased anxiety. Parents, this suggests that you
can play an active role in reducing competition
anxiety by de-valuing the outcome of the event and
by focusing on the individual performance over which
the swimmers have control.
Symptoms of anxiety:
- increased heart rate
- rapid breathing
- sweating
- negativity
- jittery
- frequent ‘pit stops’
- excessive worry
- doubts
- talk of failure
- low confidence
Strategies to Manage
- Deep belly breathing
- positive self-talk
- relaxation exercises
- think of successes
- stretching
- visualize race
- listen to music
- focus on goals
- light massage
- distract by talking with friends, family
|
|
|
|
|
|