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Competitive anxiety on sports performance
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Growing up an athlete, I was used to the bruises, strained muscles, and achy joints. Ten years of competitive gymnastics took a toll on my body, both physically and mentally. Gymnastics was an intense sport revolving around being perfect. Our coaches taught us to strive for and attain perfection, which in turn became a gift and a curse. This need to be perfect was a gift in that it drove me, and continues to drive me, to achieve at a high level and pursue my goals. The downside, however, was that my self-confidence plummeted since gymnastics taught me that even my best needed to be better which left me anxiously trying to prove myself and my abilities. After countless years of wear-and-tear on my body, I could barely run ten steps without …show more content…
It was his job to critique us on our diving and provide us with constructive feedback to better our skills. Shortly after, he began harshly critiquing us on more than our diving. He said I needed to lose weight, I was a disappointment to everyone, and he constantly told my teammates to stop speaking to me. I dreaded practice, terrified of what I would hear next. My anxiety level reached the point where I stood afraid to even jump off the board. The day I experienced a panic attack and nearly passed out on a platform five meters above the water was the day I was ready to leave the sport I …show more content…
I prided myself in my academics, and as with diving, I was afraid of failing. The intense fear of failure was crippling. Every assignment was an enormous weight on my shoulders, and I struggled to achieve the flawless outcome I desired. I exhausted myself dwelling on my past failures, and my personal expectations became overwhelmingly unattainable. My failures blinded me to my successes, and as I began college, I knew that I needed to combat this anxiety as well. Using similar breathing and relaxation exercises I had previously learned paired with a few new techniques to refocus my thoughts, I better managed the anxiety that accumulated in the
I’ve read that statistics show that those who are the first in their family to go to college will get more discouraged and think that they can’t do it because their parents weren’t able to do it for some reason. However, since reading part of Cox’s book and doing other research I know that I can do this because I know how to manage my stress and for the most part I am able to keep my stress levels down and keep up with school. When I feel stressed I get too distracted from the assignment at hand, when this happens I typically have to step away from the assignment or essay and go take a walk or pray about the situation. I always pray about whatever situation I am in before I even do anything but sometimes I do have to take breaks from an essay because I typically get frustrated thinking that I am a bad writer or something. The student anxiety and fear management are the sections that really stood out to me in Cox’s book because I know that it relates to me especially when she had put some testimonies from other college students, this is relatable to me. From reading the fear management section and going over this book excerpt in class, I know that I am not going to avoid any formal assessment just because I am too afraid my writing will suck because I know that some peoples strong suits is in writing but some is in other areas, mine is working with
“Gymnastics taught me everything- life lessons, responsibility and discipline and respect.” -Shawn Johnson (Former Olympic gymnast). In my interview with Franchesca Hutton-Lau I found this quote to prove very true to her. Franchesca Hutton-Lau, often called Frankee by her friends and teammates, has been a gymnast ever since she was five years old. In my interview with her, she enlightened me on her struggles, experiences, lessons, and successes which she’s taken from this treacherous sport. Chesca, as I call her, has a very different life from the average high school student.
I’ve been involved with sports since I was 2 years old, participating in these taught me more than the sports themselves; they taught me who I am. I put in countless hours of gymnastics practice, so many that the majority of kids couldn’t imagine the dedication needed to become a state and national champion. It taught me a few of the most vital lessons that I will ever learn; to contribute 100 percent in everything I do and to balance various aspects of my life. Gymnastics also taught me perseverance, how to work harder to achieve a goal, no matter how difficult.
Gymnasts are more vulnerable to the onset of distorted eating than other teenagers in society, due to the very nature of what makes for athletic success in the sport. Gymnasts’ bodies have to be young, healthy, petite and muscular, therefore they have to do large amounts of conditioning and eat the proper amounts and type of food. The main factor to gymnasts being vulnerable to distorted eating is because they are at very young ages when they excel in the sport. Gymnastics is structured around young fit bodies, so these athletes are facing a lot of pure pressure and big decisions at young ages. They may start to restrict their diet because, in the sport, it is expected for them to have petite and fit bodies and they are receiving pressure from their coaches and others opinions. A Canadian study of youth gymnasts at an average age of 13.4 years old, reported that 10.5% saw themselves as overweight, 27% were worried about the way they looked and 39% reported dieting behaviors (momsteen.com). When gymnasts restrict their food intake it will not enhance their performance, instead it will harm it because of their weakened bodies condition. They decide to reduce their food intake because of what their body, as a gymnast, is supposed to look like. With the average age of gymnasts being 13.4 years old, they are at the age where it is very easy to feel insecure about their body due to others around them, but it is very unhealthy for high-level gymnasts to not be fueling their body with the proper foods thy need. The sports nature also plays a large role in how far the athletes will go for success. Gymnastics is a very involving sport that requires very long training hours for the young athletes. The proper amount of training hours for the ...
Gymnasts use physics everyday. As a gymnast I never realized how much physics went into every motion, every back handspring, every mistake on the bars. If gymnasts were physicists (or at least knew more about physics) they would be better equipped to handle the difficult aspects of gymnastics. As a gymnast I learned the motions that were necessary to complete the tricks that I was working on, and as a coach I taught others the same. I never truly understood why a particular angle gave me a better back handspring or why the angle that I hit a springboard at really mattered when completing a vault. We are going to explore some of the different apparatuses in gymnastics and a few of the physics laws that are involved in them. We will not even barely scratch the surface of the different ways that physics can explain gymnastics.
An important part of every sport is the physical toll it takes on it’s participants and the
The sheer energy of a gymnast alone can be felt by audiences of all ages, but what the spectators lack the ability to feel is the pounding of the bodies that bear the impact of the athletes in action. Gymnastics consists of a mixture of acrobatic performances of four different events for females, and six different events for males (Gianoulis 1). Gymnastics is demanding in a multitude of ways, including: physically, emotionally and mentally. It requires countless hours of dedication. The concerns of most gymnasts are moving up to the next level, or getting a more advanced skill, while the concerns of the doctors, coaches, and parents revolve mostly around the athlete’s health, which is put at stake for the adored yet dangerous sport. Injuries are common among both male and female gymnast alike, but due to the fact a female gymnast’s career peaks at the same time of major growth and development, a female gymnast’s body as a whole is more likely to undergo lifelong changes or affects (Gianoulis 2). Among the injuries of the mind blowing athletes, the most common ones affect the ankles, feet, lower back, wrist, and hands of individuals (Prevention and Treatment 1). From sprains, to the breaks, the intriguing sport of gymnastics is physically demanding on a gymnast’s body.
For years gymnastics has been a sport that many children participate in. But as the years have gone by it has turned into something other than a place for kids to grow and learn. Its overwhelming commitment has continued to replace kids’ childhoods with stress, mental and physical pain and eating disorders. Many results have come from this change in the gymnastics society. Gymnasts have come to a point where they have been told and directed to understand that winning is the only important factor in gymnastics. “ It’s about the elite child athlete and the American obsession with winning that has produced a training environment wherein results are bought in at any cost, no matter how devastating. It’s about how cultural fixation on beauty and weight on youth has shaped the sport and driven the athletes into a sphere beyond the quest for physical performance.” (Ryan 5)
The mission of Gymnastics Canada is stated on their website as follows: “We lead and govern the Canadian gymnastics system, direct High Performance in pursuit of international excellence, and guide and /or partner in the development of quality and innovative gymnastics programming”. Their mandate is
Throughout school, I suffered from test anxiety. Taking standardized tests always stressed me out and I would perform much lower than my grades suggested I was capable. Because of my low SAT scores, I worried that I would not be accepted into the college of my choice, but over time I have realized that my positive attributes can offset my low test scores. Working with high school students, I would love to guide students burdened by test anxiety find ways to overcome their fears.
Students with academic anxiety are self-engrossed and lead to their own academic demise. Test anxiety does not only affect a student's performance on a test, but Huberty (2009) asserts that test anxiety over time tends to contribute to more common underachievement. He describes the consequences of constant test anxiety including lowered self-esteem, reduced effort, and loss of desire to complete school tasks. Students who have academic anxiety also have a higher risk of developing depression, and often feel deprived of confidence (Cunningham, 2008). Thus, academic anxiety can become extreme, and have negative effects on students’ well-being.
Going to college can be an exciting new experience that can challenge a person more than he or she thought was possible. Attending college, especially for the first time, can be a very stressful time in a person’s life. Some of the stress that is associated with attending college are living in a new place, having to meet new people, having new responsibilities, and of course the homework that goes along with taking classes. If a person does not learn to cope with these stressors in a healthy way, that person may become very overwhelmed and possibly depressed (Hoeger & Hoeger, 2010) .To keep one’s body and mind safe from the overexposure of stress, they can practice the following techniques.
What is ballet? Why do it? Ballet is a type of dance. Dance is a type of art that generally involves the movement of the body. There are several types of dances, such as modern, which is a mixture of smooth movements but also sharp movements. Jazz is mostly composed of sharp actions and varying the heights of the dancer. Ballet is a form of dance characterized by conventional steps, classy poses, and graceful movements including leaps and spins. It originated in the courts of the Italian Renaissance and later developed in Russia and France. By looking at ballet’s sophisticated artistic movements, its level of training, and its spiritual aspect, you can see why this classic dance is so treasured by many.
Suddenly the hall, that I love more than home, becomes torture. I no longer can jump from bar to bar, do flips with ease, run up to the vault, jump over and feel like I am flying. From now onwards I become petrified of anything that is associated with gymnastics. The machines become petrifying.
Through research project, I have developed my knowledge and attained new skills. Prior to the research project, I had minimal understanding of anxiety, however, after some planning and research development my knowledge had vastly developed throughout research project. Through conducting several research processes, I gained skills and knowledge that I previously did not have. I learnt to effectively manage my time by creating a timeline, which allowed me to keep up to date by breaking down each section of the research project into smaller components that I can complete within a reasonable amount of time. I set myself