Sports psych - coping strategies

What are coping strategies?

A secondary plan or behaviour which is in place for each primary or preferred behaviour should it fail or be inappropriate

What do athletes need to enter a competition knowing?

1. There is someone who is able to make necessary changes to meet the demands of a situation

2. They have been prepared mentally & physically to implement coping strategies

What are the strategies used to improve an athlete’s ability to cope with pain?

• Expect the pain —> be mentally prepared for discomfort —> realise that it is more likely than not that you will experience pain in some form during a contest or in training (should not surprise the athlete)

• Accept the pain —> it’s part of the sport —> accepting that we will experience a certain degree of discomfort

• Train for the pain —> simulate pressure in training —> most athletes will train at an intensity necessary to compete at their desire standard of competition, will regularly be subjected to the physiological stresses that they will encounter in competition, have ‘been there before’

• Pain is a mental signal —> focus on task-relevant cues —> pain can be used to provide focus on the task, pain is the signal for increased concentration & task diligence

How to cope with a hostile crowd:

• Refocus on your game plan and task-relevant factors.

• Use cue words like “focus,” “reset,” or “calm.”