The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most online retailers! Click Here to Order
Professional Versus Amateur Game Day Emotional Aptitude
After games, famous athletes are always asked for selfies by their adoring fans. An athlete who just won and had a terrific performance may say, “Sure! I’d be happy to!” He’s excited, cheerful and still fired up from the victory, so he smiles for the cell phone cameras and jokes with his fans. Just a few days later, that very same athlete suffers a devastating loss in which he severely under performed. After the game he yells to his fans, “NO PICTURES!” as he departs. He’s still frustrated and annoyed about the loss.
The change was the athlete’s emotional response to those performances and outcomes. Interestingly, the professional athlete controlled his emotions during both performances. It was only after the competition that he showed his emotional cards. Unfortunately, intermediate athletes let the wide range of emotions control their decisions and actions during competition.
Throughout competition, it’s not unusual to witness an intermediate athlete flow through being pleasant, to unhappy, to worried, to silly, to satisfied, to heartbroken, to defensive, to insecure, to apologetic, to fired up, to dejected, to furious, to panicky, to sorrowful, back to cheerful and pleasant. The optimal peak performance state of mind is lost in the athlete’s juggling of emotional aptitude.
Emotional control is just as important
as ball control in sports.
SOLUTION: Managing Emotions
Athletes have to practice not allowing their emotions to control their decisions and actions. Emotions distract an athlete from their competitive job description. Misplaced emotions can “kidnap” an athlete and although their bodies are still in the moment of the game, their head and heart is not … The first step toward controlling emotions is to be aware of one’s current emotional state. In athletics, they range from tranquil and calm to frustrated and angry. The intensity of these emotions will surely control the performer, if the performer doesn’t identify and control the emotions. Most often, when an athlete’s emotions run the show… their performance suffers.
It’s important for an athlete to give themselves permission to feel the negative emotions. This implies allowing cognitive and emotional flexibility. It’s normal for extreme level athletes to feel extreme emotions. The difference is not allowing negative emotions to steer the athlete into a downward spiral of poor performance.
