Elite Athlete Perfectionism

Elite athletes often put a large amount of pressure on themselves to perform as well as they can, all the time. These athletes will do all they can, and push their bodies to see results in their performance. The habitus of most athletes has been to always do their best, and perform to the best of their ability. As a result, to do this mass amounts of training is required (Schnell, Mayer, Diehl, Zipfel & Theil, 2014, ¶ 1). Howe explains that some athletes have shown that their immune system has been suppressed because they are so physically fit. This is seen in long distance runners as their total percentage of body fat is very low. But these athletes will risk this just so that can run longer and perhaps reach personal goals (Howe, 2004, p.116).

If an athlete has a desire to strive for perfection, it may become a negative type of perfectionism commanding health risks. Perfectionism is known as the analytical assessment of one’s performance. It is a personality trait that aims for perfection and setting extremely high goals for one’s performance (Stoeber, Otto, Pescheck, Becker & Stoll, 2007, ¶ 1). Certain researchers believe perfectionism helps one accomplish top performance. Conversely, others see perfectionism as an interruption to athletic performance. For instance, to some athletes’ perfectionism is a good and healthy as it can be an internal motivation to improve. However, there is a type where it can begin to become negative and unhealthy. Accordingly, some undesirable aspects of perfectionism include unease over mistakes, worries about actions, expectations not living up to results and negative response to faults. Therefore, these actions can become unhealthy to athlete and lead to anxiety (Stoeber et al., 2007, ¶

In addition, athletes put a lot of pressure on themselves became they are always being assessed by their opponents, teammates, coaches and spectators. The athlete wants to push themselves so that they can please their audience and not looked down upon if they do something wrong. This may lead to increased competitive anxiety, and there are three areas associated with competitive anxiety. First is cognitive anxiety, which is constant thoughts about failure. Next is somatic anxiety, and this is the awareness of physical symptoms and increased negative arousal. Finally, prior to and during competitions self-confidence is usually an indicator of low competitive anxiety and is normally related to higher performance. Athletes seeking victory should be cautious of their inner perfectionism because if it turns negative it can lead to mental and physical health risks (Stoeber et al., 2007, ¶