Performance anxiety

Have you ever experience choking in your sport and wondered why it happens and how to overcome it? If so, then this article is written for you. First let's address what choking is.

Choking is one of the most frustrating and misunderstood experiences in athletics and it's a common reason why so many athletes seek SPMI services. It happens when an athlete fails to perform at their normal level during a high-pressure moment—not due to a lack of skill, but because the mental pressure becomes overwhelming.

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, athletes all over the US will be unknowingly practicing a powerful mental skill. This one mental skill often goes overlooked. In fact, most athletes don’t even consider it to be a mental skill, however, recent studies show that it has profound positive benefits that target multiple areas of the mental game. This one mental skill is called Gratitude.

One of the greatest misconceptions in mental toughness is the belief that controlling one's bad thoughts is about countering bad thoughts with good thoughts. Recent empirical studies have found that this approach often leads to an increase in cognitive anxiety. Trying to control one’s bad thoughts often leads to an increase or strengthening of bad thoughts. Therefore, One powerful solution to calming the mind does not begin with one thoughts but instead with one's senses.

Since SPMI was founded in 2011 I have witnessed the rapid progression of how social media has infiltrated the lives of young athletes. From the acquisition of instagram by what was then Facebook in 2012 to shortly after, the first notorious selfie by Kim Kardashian. The rise of social media has been anything but beneficial to athlete development. It’s opened the door to an increase in performance anxiety, unhappiness, and in extreme cases, depression.

One of the worst feelings every athlete has experienced at least once in their life is choking. It's that moment when the athlete feels a sudden, unpleasant, overwhelming sensation, where their body and mind almost gets taken over by a performance virus. This virus, if you will, debilitates the athlete's performance and ultimately leads to a loss that should've never occurred. In my work at SPMI, I am fortunate to reach out and help athlete's overcome this disastrous feeling time and time again. I want to share a little about why it occurs and some ways to help combat the symptoms.