Question

Becky is a first-year player on a nationally ranked women’s NCAA Division I tennis team. She is six feet tall with a powerful left-handed serve. Her groundstrokes are technically sound, but she makes too many unforced errors. Her volleys are solid, and she moves well for a tall player. As a high school tennis player, Becky always played a great deal in the spring and summer, but never practiced in the fall or winter. In addition, she never participated in junior tennis associations.

In her senior year in high school, Becky won her state high school singles and doubles championship. She was especially dominant in doubles, winning the state finals 6-2, 6-1. It was after these accomplishments that the tennis coach of Major University contacted her about playing collegiate tennis.

The fall season was a rude awakening for Becky. Not only did she not make the starting lineup, but she also did not even make the traveling squad. In addition, she lost every challenge match she played except one. Becky began to feel that maybe she was not such a good tennis player after all. She stopped hanging around with her new college friends because she thought they would not like her since she was such a “loser.”

Compared to the other women on her college tennis team, Becky had very little experience. Most of her teammates had played the junior tennis circuit and had achieved national rankings or, at the very least, sectional rankings. The coach believes Becky is a very talented tennis player, but her lack of experience has held her back. The coach has told her that she is number 9 out of 12 players on the team.

Your role on the team is that of a student sport psychology consultant. One day about three weeks into the spring season, Becky comes to you before practice and says, “I need help. I’ve got no confidence, the coach doesn’t believe in me, and I’m not having any fun. Every time I step on the tennis court, I feel so anxious I could throw up. My heart is pounding, and I can't stop thinking about how likely I am to screw something up.” You set up a time to talk, and the next day meet in your office.

Identify how anxiety, arousal, and stress might play a facilitative or debilitative role in Becky’s performances within the case. Use at least one specific theory to explain your answer.

Identify three intervention strategies that Becky can use to help manage her anxiety, arousal, and/or stress.  For each strategy, discuss why this strategy will work based on relevant theory and research. (please expand on all areas as much as you can)

Answer 1

Performance anxiety in sports, now and again alluded to as "choking," is depicted as a decline in athletic execution because of an excessive amount of perceived stress. It regularly increases in competitors on game day since (1) they have a group of people and (2) they have high expectations of their success.This kind of stress is frequently founded in transit the competitors interpret the situation. It is once in a while the outer circumstance that causes pressure.A competitor should initially decide whether considerations of uncertainty, disappointment or an absence of certainty are because of an apparent absence of ability. Competitors need to understand that it's difficult to put forth the best effort in a game when your own inside voice is disclosing to you in any case. Trainers can likewise help or ruin a competitor's capacity to beat choking during the game. Mentors frequently incidentally fortify an example of choking when attempting to empower ("the following shot is basic"). Such talk just expands the weight a competitor feels to perform.

Some intervention strategies that can greatly help Beck are:-

Concentrate on the job that needs to be done as opposed to the result. Remain present in the moment and abstain from intuition excessively far into the occasion or considering the finish.​ If you end up speculation negative thoughts or negative self-talk, stop and spotlight just on your relaxing. Concentrating on your breathing mood will consequently pull you once more into the present.

Force a smile. Truly. On the off chance that you are battling with negative musings and can't break out of the cycle, just force yourself to smile, regardless of whether just for a couple of moments. This basic activity will change your demeanor in a brief moment. Maybe that is constantly you have to unwind once more into your presentation.

Race as you couldn't care less about the result. On the off chance that you end up got up to speed in negative considerations and find that you out of nowhere expect the most noticeably awful it will be difficult to perform at your pinnacle. On the off chance that you start to race as you couldn't care less about the result, you may unwind and appreciate the occasion for what it is - one more day in your life. Not the most significant thing in your life.

To beat execution nervousness, a​ sports therapist, mentor, and coach may attempt to enable the competitor to comprehend why those thoughts and sentiments create and afterward attempt to change or adjust that procedure with restricted measures of accomplishment. Competitors who are coming back from wounds frequently have intense subject matters that undermine certainty. Why such thoughts emerge might be of intrigue, yet realizing the appropriate response isn't constantly important to conquer them. Here are a couple of tips that may help change or divert the negative self-talk.