Sport And Exercise Psychology: A Critical Introduction

To illustrate, consider what Jack Nicklaus, who is statistically the greatest golfer ever by
virtue of winning eighteen major tournaments, revealed about the distinction between
feeling nervous and excited. Specifically, he said,

Sure, you’re nervous, but that’s the difference between being able to win

and not being able to win. And that’s the fun of it, to put yourself in the

position of being nervous, being excited. I never look on it as pressure. I

look on it as fun and excitement. That’s why you’re doing it. (cited in

Gilleece, 1996, p. 7)

Unfortunately, this skill of perceiving pressure situations as challenges does not normally
develop spontaneously in athletes. It can be cultivated through specialist advice and
training, however. To learn the rudiments of cognitive restructuring in practical terms, try
the exercise in Box 3.6.

Box 3.6 Cognitive restructuring in action: turning a pressure situation

into a challenge

The purpose of this exercise is to show you how to use a technique called cognitive
restructuring to turn a feared pressure situation into a manageable challenge (based on
Moran, 1998). To begin, think of a situation in your sport or daily life that usually makes
you feel anxious. Now, describe this situation by finishing the following sentence;
“I hate the pressure of...” A

Fill in the missing words with reference to the pressure situation you have experienced.
For example, you might write down “1 hate the pressure of serving for the match when
playing tennis”. Alternatively, it could be “I hate the pressure of facing exams when I
have not studied for them”,
Now, think of this pressure situation again. This time, however, I would like you to
restructure it in your head so that you think about it differently:
“I love the challenge of...”.
Please note that you are not allowed to simply repeat what you wrote before. For
example, you cannot say “I love the challenge of serving for the match when playing
tennis”. Instead, you have to pick something else to focus on in that pressure situation
besides the fear of making mistakes. As we shall see in Chapter 4, the secret of
maintaining your focus under pressure is to concentrate on something that is specific,
relevant and under your own control. Usually, that means concentrating on some aspect
of your preparation for the feared situation. For example, you could write “I love the
challenge of preparing in the same way for every serve—no matter what the score is in
the match”. Notice how restructuring a situation can make you feel differently about it.
You no longer see it as something to fear but as something which challenges your skills.

Having learned how athletes can restructure pressures as challenges, our next step is to
examine some practical techniques for reducing anxiety in pressure situations.

Sport and exercise psychology: A critical introduction 90