Resubmitting Become an Emotional Master Athlete Part 1 of 2

Happy Monday May everyone.  Throughout last week, it came to my attention that not all of the players in the Elite program receive my blog.  I have added a few since then so hopefully everyone is on board.

I am reposting an earlier blog of part 1.  It is an important piece to the things that we are working on.  Please read it for on court discussion.

Sports can evoke a wide range of emotions, from inspiration, pride, exhilaration, and satisfaction, to fear, frustration, anger, and panic, often in a very short time span during training or competition. Emotions lies at the top of the Prime Sport Pyramid because it has been my experience that they ultimately dictate your ability to achieve Prime Sport (defined, if you recall, as being able to perform at a consistently high level under the most challenging conditions). Your ability to perform consistently is often determined by the consistency of your emotions; as your emotions go, so go your performances. And your ability to respond positively to the inevitable challenges you will face in training and competition are, again, often impacted by your emotional reactions to those challenges. Because of this influence, your ability to master your emotions gives you the power to use emotions as tools to facilitate individual and team performance rather than weapons that hurt you and your team.


Emotional Styles
I have found four emotional styles among athletes. These styles involve characteristic ways in which athletes respond emotionally to their sport. Athletes with a particular style react in a predictable way any time they find themselves in a demanding situation.

The seether feels frustration and anger build slowly during the course of a competition. They appear to be in emotional control, but that is only because the negative emotions haven't surfaced yet. They're able to keep the frustration and anger in check as long as they are performing well and the competition is mostly going their way. If the competition turns or they make a crucial error, they can explode and lose control emotionally. Often, they're not able to reestablish control and end up losing the competition.

The rager also feels anger and frustration strongly, but it is expressed immediately and openly. For this type of athlete, showing strong emotions acts as a form of relief (or so they think). The emotions arise, are expressed and released. By doing this, the rager is able to maintain a kind of emotional equilibrium. Up to a point, this ongoing emotional outlet helps their performances by increasing motivation and intensity. However, though these athletes let the negative emotions out, they do not really let them go. If the competition turns against them, the rage builds until it finally engulfs and controls them. At this point, their emotions become their enemies and their performances deteriorate.

The brooder also feels strong emotions, but, unlike the seether and the rager, the most common emotions are despair and helplessness. These athletes tend to dwell on negative experiences, thoughts, and feelings and can be seen as pouting during a competition. Brooders are very sensitive to the highs and lows of a competition and their emotions tend to mirror its course. If they're performing well and winning, they're fine, but if they perform poorly and are losing, the "down" emotions emerge and hurt their performance. They may possess a strong defeatist attitude and are best known for their giving up in pressure situations. There are no world-class or professional athletes who completely fit this emotional style because someone could not reach such a high level of performance if their dominant emotional style was as a brooder. However, there are many successful athletes who have some brooding qualities, which can prevent them from getting to the very top of their sport.

The Zen master is the rarest of the emotional styles because they're largely unaffected by threat and negative emotions. Errors, poor performances, and losing seem to slide right off of them, as if they are made of Teflon. They have the ability to not let pressure situations affect them and they're able to let go of past mistakes and failure. The Zen master rarely shows emotions, either negative or positive, and maintains an consistent demeanor even in the most critical competitive situations. This equanimity results in consistently high performance and positive reactions to the normal ups and downs of sport.

Tune in to tomorrow of part 2 to  Become an Emotional Master Athlete.