In this lesson, we are going to discuss how your emotions can either help make you a better player or make you a worse player. Aligning with both “Feeling” and “Thinking” on our Performance model, we will help you to understand how your emotions can cause reactions and behaviours that either help or hinder you.

We’ve probably all seen a referee throw a coach out of the game for getting too angry about a call, or when an athlete gets red-carded or thrown out for an outburst. Emotions can run high in a sport like soccer! We’ve seen players get angry and sad at losing a game, become frustrated with themselves or another player, or even angry at a fan in the stands.

POSITIVE EMOTIONS

We’ve seen the positive emotions when a team wins a game, when a player scores their first goal, or when someone finds out they made the team they tried out for. These are not the kind of emotions that we are concerned with. These are good emotions.

The problem with some emotions in sport is when it causes us to react negatively and to behave badly.

NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

It’s normal to have negative emotional reactions in sport – after all, you put a lot of yourself into training and competing. And when things don’t go your way, or when you feel like you have been wronged, feeling angry, frustrated or sad is a natural reaction.

However, when we get angry or sad, we tend to behave poorly – maybe it’s yelling at the referee, shoving a competitor or even storming off the field in a huff. When we behave poorly, others can lose confidence in us, and we may even lose the opportunity to play or perform. That is not ideal.

We’re going to discuss some situations that are triggers for negative emotions and provide you with tips on how to handle these situations and your reactions – both emotionally and behaviourally.

BUT FIRST…LISTEN TO PAUL’S EXPERIENCE WITH NEGATIVE EMOTIONS:

CONTINUE

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The Impact of Emotions