Performance anxiety with HS girls

Nov 11, 05 6:33

Post #1 of 16 (2249 views)

I bet that thread got your attention ....sickos

I am coaching a HS swim team. I have coached summer league for 9 years, but this is my first time working only with highly motivated High schoolers. Usually the HS kids on my summer league teams are so busy with work and social stuff that we just are happy to have them show up at meets.

Anyway, we had a meet last nite that was EXTREMELY close. I knew it would going into it. I have a swimmer who is a former year round swimmer and a phenomanal butterflyer. Before the 100 fly, a girl comes and tell me that she is in the bathroom puking. She makes it out and struggles thru the race (still swimming well). I talked to her mom about it and she said that her daughter suffers from this all the time. In all senses, it is performance anxiety. It only happens in pressure situations. SHe wound up quitting year round swimming because of this and her coaches wouldnt work with her to figure it out. Now my wife is getting her PHd in psychology and I know that sports psychology is probably the way to go with this. This girl just puts alot of pressure on herself.

Do any of you have any experience with this? Did seeing a therapist help you? I hate to see this girl suffer like this. She is such a nice girl and a great swimmer with the potential to be even better.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 6:45

Post #2 of 16 (2208 views)

Can't offer any solutions, but I can say that when I wrestled in HS, two of my teammates suffered the same. Each one of them would throw up, just as soon as the match before them would start. However, just as soon as the match ended they were ready to go. One of them took 2nd in the states, like 3 years runnin.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 6:50

Post #3 of 16 (2182 views)

There are lots of ways to deal with this presuming it is psychologically based. My first choice would be to try hypnosis.

--------------
Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 7:02

Post #4 of 16 (2136 views)

You ever see that tape of Dorothy Hamill getting her gold medal, in which she sorta looks like she's laughing? She was actually trying to not throw up.

A former girlfriend of mine took up bike racing. Her first year, she won the state RR, took 2nd in the TT, and 3rd in the crit. She hated the pressure and stress so much she quit at the end of the year. 20 pounds later, I think she's pretty happy.

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klehner] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 7:24

Post #5 of 16 (2063 views)

She just loves practice and meets...its just those high pressure situations that get to her.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 7:42

Post #6 of 16 (2014 views)

At least she's not puking in the pool. At a race a few years ago, I had a woman barf on my foot as we were waiting at the swim start... nice and warm feeling.

Read the yoga thread, maybe some breathing and relaxation techniques would help her. It would probably help the whole team.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 8:01

Post #7 of 16 (1956 views)

I don't think this is particular to girls. All athletes have to come to grips with the stress of competition. I've known a few people who "needed" to get worked up enough to puke before a race if they were going to have a great performance but they were always hungry to keep racing. It was just part of their mental preparation. However, if your swimmer is so nervous she wants to quit, she needs help.

I'd suggest finding some professional help for her from someone with expereince dealing with athletes. Almost all athletes a the college level and above have had some contact with a sports psycologist so there should be no stigma attached to this. Its just part of modern training as much as weight training or monitoring a diet athlough it sounds like she needs much more than just some coaching in the basics of stress management and menatl aspects of performance.

She can quit swimming but she is not going to escape performance stress in her day to day life so it would behove her to get this straightened out even if she decides to give up sports. Otherwise she'll' probably end up puking all over her SAT test and that will mess her up much more than losing a butterfly race.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 8:38

Post #8 of 16 (1896 views)

My nephew was on his HS tennis team that was state runner up 2 years in a row. He was a pretty good player but a head case, at times. He would routinely beat players much better than him but would lose to players he should have beaten easily.He said there there was no pressure on him when playing better players, he wasn't expected to win. WHen playing lesser players he would start to think about losing, letting his team down and get very anxious. Essentially, he kept repeating these negative thoughts in his head. He went to a sports psy one time and he didn't have the problem after that.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 11:48

Post #9 of 16 (1729 views)

I used to puke quite frequently before races/during meets when I was in HS and college. Once I got it out, I was okay. Great psych-out, though, to have all the other swimmers seeing you puke on the deck!

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 12:01

Post #10 of 16 (1697 views)

Jim Kelly (QB for the Buffalo Bills) did this before every game. I don't know if he ever got over it, but it was part of his pre-game ritual.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [BeeHunter] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 12:07

Post #11 of 16 (1671 views)

There's quite a few athletes that follow Jim Kelly's pre-game routine. The pre-race anxiety is what Deboom said would drive him from the sport.

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Sports psychologist? Hypnosis? You guys are more trusting with your mind than I am.

I might go the breathing/meditation/stretching route before anything else. It's caetainly not gonna cost $100/hr.

Puking before big competitions? I would call that "normal". Been my experience that it decreases with experience and confidence, but still comes to the forefront once in a while.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 12:18

Post #12 of 16 (1630 views)

I usually puke and/or have other gastrointestinal distress before a race, as wll as job interviews and other stressful occasions. I've used visualization and relaxation techniques but really consider it a non-issue.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 12:26

Post #13 of 16 (1604 views)

BUSTED

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 12:33

Post #14 of 16 (1572 views)

I ran middle distance with a 49 sec 400 runner in high school. He threw up before and after every race. I think it lightened him up and made him faster.

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 12:41

Post #15 of 16 (1549 views)

dragged out of lurking by this...

There are a lot of long term options, but in the short term my suggestion would be to give her something else to concentrate on. Give her a "plan" of what to do when she feels the nerves building--a way to bail-out of the pattern...Tell her (with complete conviction) whatever plan you think will work for her is and exactly what she needs to do...something like "you need to sit down, close your eyes, and breathe in for 5 and breathe out for 5 3 times. The focus on your race by repeating your 3 target words "fast, light, drive".

I'd strongly suggest the 3 focus words be form/technique goals cuz they put the focus on the stroke, not the race.

This is just an example of something that worked well for a swimmer I coached (with similar issues!).

Hope it helps..

Re: Performance anxiety with HS girls [klorene] [ In reply to ]

Nov 11, 05 12:42

Post #16 of 16 (1539 views)

had a college swim team mate do teh same thing often - we convinced him that any time he threw up he would swim super fast - once he believed it it worked - 20.5 50 freestyler int he mid 80s - pretty fast

just convince her that it is a sign that her body is ready to swim great

http://www.clevetriclub.com

rob reddy

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