Certain matches, labelled as “ important “ produce anxiety and insomnia the days before. And while approaching the D day, certain players can feel unusually tense with stomach-aches. These are the classical symptoms of “ before match stress “. Likewise, during a match, a point mentally identified as important can trigger off muscle tension or an anormal fast heart rate. Suddenly, the player is paralysed by the situation. He becomes unable to think clearly and accurately. That’s the “ during match “ stress.
Yet, a priori STRESS IS GOOD !
For, stress is a natural reaction of the organism to adapt oneself to environment instability. When all is stable around me, I don’t need to adapt myself. Stress is not necessary. On the other hand, at the precise moment I have to react, my organism, under stress effect, starts to prepare itself for action through a general neuro-physiologic activation. My stress is positive when my reaction intensity is adjusted to the situation I have to face. My stress becomes negative when I misevalue the situation : either I overestimate it or I underestimate it. Hyperstress is produced by overestimating : I send a nuclear submarine to attack a duckling. Hypostress is the fruit of underestimating the situation : to face Gengis Khan cavalry, I come with beach britches and a pair of sun-glasses. In the two cases, my response is inadequate.
A good “ stress manager “ is a player
who is able to find his optimal activation
zone. Certain players are in the zone when
they are “ speed “. They need a high level of
activation, but not too high. Other players are
efficient when they feel “cool “. Their activation
level must be lower. Hey ! Wake up ! Not too low
because you risk to get asleep ...
7 TOOLS to manage stress
n° 1 prepare Study the opponent profile and the specificity of the match
environment. Prepare the bag. Check the rackets. Visualize different
game plans..
n° 2 avoid pressure Keep quiet before the match in a calm place to get into a
concentration rythm. During changeovers, close your eyes or put your head under a towel.
n° 3 sing a song Before the match, listen to music ( walkman, radio ... ).
Between points or during changeovers, sing mentally.
n° 4 read The day before the match, to get asleep easily, read a good book.
If you have to wait before a match or between 2 matches, put your mind into something to read ( comics, magazine, book ).
n° 5 zoom lens Don’t give too much importance to a match. From Mars, how does
my match look like ? In one hundred years, what about the importance of that match ?
n° 6 breathe During the warm-up 5 minutes, concentrate on breathing out while hitting the ball. Between points or during changeovers, think of breathing deeply with a diaphragmatic breath.
n° 7 smile Smile on difficulties or unexpected events.
These 7 tools tend to reduce anxiety. To increase activation, you just have to get motivated e.g. fixing match goals or moving with energy. And now, good stress !
Antoni GIROD
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