Performing Under Pressure
Dr. Georgia Romano
It is generally accepted that anxiety, the perception of threat, produces tension in the body and can create all sorts of emotional distractions, which can take us away from the task at hand.
These task-irrelevant thoughts interfere with our thinking, preventing us from efficiently performing a process that we would otherwise be able to do easily.
For a high-level athlete, this could mean the inability to perform a well-acquired basic motor skill and the ability to make sound decision-making.
With the help of Dr. Georgia Romano (Psychologist - Psychotherapist) at Cpp we have developed a method ( UN FORMAT ) that has proven to give important results on athletes of different disciplines.
Several athletes have achieved important and unexpected results before embarking on the training path with the proposed Format.
Football Referee
You're on the soccer field, refereeing an important match. Sweat drips from your face, you're breathing heavily, and the stadium lights feel brighter than usual, as if they're piercing your eyes and boiling your brain. The crowd feels deafening, the players are furiously angry with you, and there's no acceptance, and a dull headache begins to form.
Time seems to be slowing down... I keep looking at my watch and start to worry that I'm getting cramps. Another play starts and I'm assailed by the thought of stopping myself; this thought blinds me to an obvious foul. The players surround me and I feel completely overcome by despair.
I talk to myself a little: stay focused, I can't make mistakes.
But the more I try, the less successful I am: I move around the field desperately without any logic, chasing the action without really seeing what's happening.
I lose another important foul in the penalty area, surrounded by the players, called by the VAR.
Now, as the game begins to get beyond me, my body is tormented by the effort, my mind is hijacked.
I am drowning in a flood of destructive interfering thoughts and I can no longer do anything according to intuition.
I know what I should do and what position to take to see, but I struggle with my frustration, humiliation, and doubts about whether I'll be able to complete the rest of the race correctly.
I can't stop thinking about what will happen once I'm in the locker room in front of the OT, I'm even starting to wonder if it's better to throw myself on the ground and fake an injury.
The pressure is really on.
I keep asking myself: How the hell do I go on?
Golfer
"This field is very narrow."
"I heard a strange noise right on the downswing."
"The stick doesn't have the right feel today."
"There was a bug moving on the green."
Every time it's my turn the wind picks up and it rains
Tennis
“I can’t feel my racket,” “The strings are loose,” or “I can’t get my timing right today;
"I can't put anything on the field", "I can't push", "I have no energy";
“It’s not going my way,” “I get a sore arm in the crucial moments,” “Why do I play so badly?”
"I can't figure out what to do!", "I always make the wrong tactical choice."
My opponent only gets lines, how can I play with such a lucky player?
What will they say when they look at my online score?
What will I say at home after spending all this money?