#7: To Compete Or Not To Compete? - How Reflection Can Kill Sports Anxiety
So you started training Taekwondo. It’s all fun and games with lots of kicking and punching, merriment and cheer. You absolutely love it. But competition day is nigh and you suddenly find yourself facing the prospect of an actual fight. Now what?
In a civilized society, the idea of combat against someone ready to hit back may sound a little frightening. And to be honest, it can be. So many questions begin to run through one’s head in the weeks leading up to the fight. “Am I ready? Can I get hurt?” - and of course - “But what if I lose?”
Not everyone reacts to the news in the same way. Some athletes - kids even - get fired up when faced with the prospect of competition. The majority, however, turn negative and give up before even trying. This is sports anxiety, and it can affect any athlete of any level. A nagging state of irrational fears related to one’s performance and its scrutiny.
Research shows that fear of failure, not looking good to friends, or disapproval by significant others (like parents and coaches) are the biggest contributors to sports anxiety.
While there isn’t much we can do about it - the way rationalize the idea of competing can make all the difference. Below are FIVE meaningful mental hacks you could use to change your view on competition.
1: Facing A Stressful Situation Can Help You Live LOnger
We’ve often heard that stress can kill you - and that’s true, for the most part. Prolonged stress, the kind you get from overworking, depression and unregulated daily struggles will kill you faster than any bad habit.
In contrast, facing single, isolated episodes of stress has been shown to stimulate longevity genes within the body. How often have you heard experts talk about the benefits of ice-cold showers, fasting, or hard training? Well, they are all isolated episodes that have one thing in common: they put the body in a perceived state of adversity. This ‘perceived state of adversity’ will help ‘switch on’ longevity genes that produce sirtuin enzymes.
Sirtuin enzymes are legendary protectors of the body. They safeguard cell identity, boost metabolic machinery and repair the body (the DNA, in particular).
This process is known as hormesis, defined (in layman’s terms) as “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger (or live longer).”
How does one put the body in a state of hormesis? Fasting (because of hunger), training (because of exertion) or cold showers (because of extreme temperatures) are three examples. But a couple of fights could be another.
2: A Loss Can Shape You Into A Better Athlete And Human
When we compete, be it Taekwondo, football or PlayStation, we do so to win. And granted, much of our training is done with the intention of getting that much-desired victory. But when two people clash, there can only be one ‘winner’. The other has to contend with that dreadful loss.
I’ve seen kids lose a match and turn to face their parents with tears in their eyes. Their thoughts scrambling for an explanation - a reason why they weren’t good enough. Maybe it was some injury, maybe the other guy played dirty or maybe the ref cocked up. We are so eager to put the blame on external factors because we are too afraid to be accountable.
Losing is inevitable. But what you do after that could potentially make you a winner. Winners take control. Winners take responsibility and look for ways to improve. In sports and life. That is where growth happens and that is why a loss is sometimes important.
Much like Taekwondo, you will find that life deals us its own fair share of crap. What are we to do then? Give up?
3: You Are Part Of An Ongoing Journey In The World Of SPorts
By signing-up for a competition you have not only become an athlete, you have also made things exciting by giving other athletes a reason to work harder. As a spectator, there is nothing more exhilarating than watching a jam-packed category of athletes (of any age) face-off against each other for the top spot.
The eventual winner on the day would do so on merit, for he/she would have ventured through the knockout stages and lasted longer than the others. Still, the adventure doesn’t end there.
While declaring a winner would mark the end of a competitive journey, it also marks the birth of another competitive cycle. The ‘defeated’ opponents could - and should - work their asses off and do better next time. And should they lose again, it only means that there is still more work to be done.
All men and all women have potential, they need only want to harness it. With desire, comes action. And with action, come results.
4: Haters Gon’ Hate
I won my first national open in 2012. And I kept on winning every single one after that up until I hung-up my boots in 2019.
Throughout my competitive journey, I always noticed there were folks who rolled their eyes every time I won. The very same ones who stood and clapped every time I conceded a point. The ones who wore an expression of disdain every time I walked off with a gold medal wrapped around my neck.
In truth, the situation bothered me. So much so, that one of my coaches looked me dead in the eye and asked me why. My answer? A fear of disapproval - and from people who didn’t even matter. I will never forget his reply.
“Like it matters,” he said. “They will hate you whether you win or lose. And that fact alone is enough to suggest that you have won at life over and above your Taekwondo fights.”
As we said in points 2 and 3, there’s no shame in loss. The real losers are the ones who relish in others’ failure, because they have so much sadness in their lives that it’s the only way they can get a buzz. Evaluate these guys’ life achievements, you’ll often find there is little to none.
5: You Will Accrue Fighting Experience
Win or loss aside, I want you to think about each fight as you would a game on your household console or PC. Now, think about each fight as an opportunity to reel in XP-points (sorry for the nerdy reference, it’s how I roll).
Basically, each fight is a major lesson with far more value than any training session. For it is in that fight where one has to wrestle with anxiety, roaring crowds, peer pressure, the stress of having someone swing at you, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Fights may last three rounds of two minutes, but in-game it feels like everything is going a million miles an hour.
Your fight (win or lose) will be ingrained in your memory. Any mistakes (or triumphs) you make will be remembered - for good. You will never forget the lessons learnt, because every decision you made led to an outcome, desired or otherwise.
Not only that, but exposing yourself to the ‘stress’ of competition regularly could potentially mitigate, if not quell altogether, that burning anxiety within. At some point, at least.
Great athletes are no strangers to tough times. Hell, Michael Jordan didn’t even make his high-school basketball team. Didn’t stop him from being the G.O.A.T though, did it?
Jordan was just an ordinary man, like most ordinary men in the world of sport. But he considered himself ‘the number one’ so long as he was still grinding. He embraced the suck, much like many other super athletes who left their names written in the stars. All that hard work rode on his will to face-off against the greats. And every single time, he was prepared to shoulder failure.
