The Impact of Affect & Attitude In Athletic Competition
Young athletes with high expectations can find themselves tumbling into an abyss of negative emotions and hard self judgment when falling short of their outcome ideals. This behavior often occurs under perceived pressure of a match, game, event, tournament. A few missed shots, or falling behind in the score can send a cascade of negativity into their thoughts. It becomes telegraphed in non-verbal cues through body language, facial expressions, posture, etc.
This video clip of Brett Ledbetter discussing with Kaitlin Clark what not to do on the basketball court is a valuable snap shot into developing athletic self-awareness.
Whether performing on a team or engaging in an individual sport the athlete who develops the skill of deflecting negativity vs. fuses their emotional/physical energy onto errors or situations outside of their control has an advantage. Defusing the emotion doesn’t mean that the athlete isn’t invested in the outcome. Letting go of the past allows them to be in tune for the next play or shot, at bat, run on goal.
When an athlete faces a challenging environment, which is what the whole concept of competition offers, their physical skills sometimes feel as though it has disappeared, but it hasn’t. What does often happen is the athlete’s inner dialogue becomes noisy with self doubt, focusing on the outcomes, what if’s, fear of losing vs. staying connected to the process. The learned skill is to develop the mental awareness & tools to let go of the last point, shot, play and reset mentally.
One of those skills as Kaitlin Clark references in the video is to recognize that she can contribute to the team during the games she isn’t playing her best. There will be off days or weeks. In those periods an athlete has a choice to sink into disappointment, frustration, anger, or have developed the skills to redirect their thoughts, attitudes, performance actions to be as effective as possible.
