MANAGING STRESS AND ANXIETY IN NETBALL: WHAT THE ATHLETE NEEDS TO KNOW

When it comes to competing in any sport, and at many levels, stress and anxiety often play a crucial role in determining performance. This is no different in netball (e.g. at club, academy, university and higher levels), where there is pressure to recover quickly from mistakes, the possibility of being benched and victories in games often being decided within the last minute. As performance increases, the skill level between players and teams is less variable, and so ensuring understanding of these concepts and how to manage them is critical for performance.

WHAT IS STRESS AND ANXIETY?

Stress and anxiety are terms that are often used interchangeably in all areas of life including sport performance, and although related, have very different definitions. In sport, stress refers to the relationship between an individual and the environmental demands associated with sport performance [1]. These are called stressors. There needs to be a balance between these demands and the athletes’ resources, in order to prevent negative effects on performance.

On the other hand, anxiety, is the individual’s specific reaction in response to these stressors. There are two types of anxiety – trait and state. Trait anxiety is a “personality characteristic that remains relatively stable over time” [2]. This means athletes with high trait anxiety will experience more anxiety, due to perceived threat, in a range of situations. Whilst state anxiety is only “activated in response to certain situations”, for example when in competition. Research has shown that those with high trait anxiety are also more likely to experience higher state anxiety, when in specific performance situations [3,4].Anxiety is often characterised by physical, mental and behavioural signs, which can occur before as well as during performance. Listed below are some of the physical, mental and behavioural symptoms mostly commonly experienced by athletes [5,6]:

• Physical signs may include experiencing muscle tension or shaking, sweating, ‘butterflies’ in the stomach, a pounding heart or a dry mouth.

• Mental signs of anxiety often involve having difficulty concentrating or focusing attention, as well as the inability to make decisions. You may also experience worry, negative thoughts and forgetfulness.

• Behavioural signs may also be displayed such as nail biting, fidgeting, pacing, frustration with others (e.g. teammates and the coach) or anger.

WHAT TYPES OF STRESSORS CAN NETBALLERS EXPERIENCE?

Research has noted different types of sport stressors [7]: each of which are suggested to have an effect on sport performance, and vary in their frequency (how often the stressor is experienced), intensity (how demanding the stressor is) and duration (how long the stressor was experienced for) [8]:

Competitive stressors refer to the demands within competitive performance. In netball these could include:

• Establishing set-plays and tactics

• Risk of getting injured or being injured by opponents

• Pressure to perform well (e.g. to beat others and minimise mistakes)

• Performance expectations from the coach or teammates

Organisational stressors refer to the demands within the organisation that you operate within:

• Team behaviour, cohesion and roles

• Competition for selection and a starting-7 spot

• Coach, umpire or spectator behaviour

Personal stressors refer to the demands the athlete has outside of their sport. These include:

• Work or academic commitments

• Personal relationships

• Distressing life events

Chelsea Pitman (England Netballer) on her transition into the England Roses Programme after playing with the Australian Diamonds in the 2011 World Championships [28]: “I was extremely nervous…coming into an environment that I’d never been part of and I’m sure the girls had their reservations as to why I was choosing to do that”.

THE EFFECT OF STRESS AND ANXIETY ON NETBALL PERFORMANCE

There has been extensive research on the relationship between stress, anxiety and sport performance, which has led to the creation of multiple theories. Firstly, it has been long believed that stressors and their associated response of anxiety are negative and are only associated with harmful effects on sport performance. However, evidence shows that this is not necessarily the case. For example, one study found that athletes believed anxiety can be beneficial for both their mental preparation and to aid performance [9].

It has been suggested that competitive anxiety felt during competition is ‘directional’ [10]. This means it can have either positive or negative effects on performance depending on how the athlete perceives their responses. The flow diagram of a ‘model of debilitative and facilitative competitive state anxiety’ shows how this occurs [11].

It has been suggested that competitive anxiety felt during competition is ‘directional’ [10]. This means it can have either positive or negative effects on performance depending on how the athlete perceives their responses. The flow diagram of a ‘model of debilitative and facilitative competitive state anxiety’ shows how this occurs [11]. It shows how perceived control over the stressor can affect how these symptoms are interpreted. Netballers who believe they have some control over their environmental stressor and self are more likely to interpret their symptoms of anxiety facilitatively to aid performance, as they believe they have enough resources to cope and can reach their performance goals. However, those who believe they can’t control or cope with the stressor perceive their anxiety more negatively.

This evaluation of the stressor occurs in two stages [12,13]:

1. A primary appraisal refers to the evaluation the athlete makes about how significant the demand is.

2. A secondary appraisal denotes the evaluation of whether the athlete has enough resources to cope with the stressor.

Example of a facilitative appraisal – a netballer who fears non-selection for the next season, may deal with the stressor by ensuring they practice and work on their fitness over the summer and pre-season.

Example of a debilitative appraisal – a netball shooter who is against the best defender in the league may appraise the situation negatively due to perceiving a lack of control over the opposition’s performance.

Similarly, with research on stress, the relationship between anxiety and sport performance has been well studied, with many suggesting the potentially advantageous effect of anxiety on performance. One of the earliest theories of anxiety suggested the ‘inverted-U hypothesis’ [14] and an optimal point of anxiety which can aid performance. It implies that as an athlete’s anxiety increases so does their performance. However, this is only up to a certain point, after which any further increases will cause the athlete to underperform. This highlights the need for netballers to perform at moderate levels of anxiety to ensure peak performance.

There are also a variety of factors which can shift the shape on the inverted -U, such as individual and sport specific differences [15,16]. High anxiety is suggested to be more beneficial for the performance of gross movements, that use larger muscle groups, in comparison to fine motor movements. Therefore in netball, where sprinting and jumping are often performed, having higher levels of anxiety may increase performance. Additionally, those of you at higher levels of performance, who can produce more automatic and habitual skills, may also benefit from higher anxiety levels. For example, goal shooters who can shoot without much thought into their technique, can handle higher levels of anxiety and prevent the negative effects on performance. This is in comparison to a beginner shooter, who’s anxiety may cause them to lose concentration when performing a shot

A few key messages to remember:

• Stressors do not always cause negative responses, and thus do not always lead to reductions in performance.

• Appraisals of these stressors can be facilitative or debilitative to performance depending on the extent to which you believe you can cope with the demand.

• Some levels of anxiety can be beneficial to enhance performance, especially if

- gross skills are being performed e.g. jumping to make an intercept

- you can perform skills habitually and without much thought

• Extreme levels of anxiety can cause detrimental effects on performance.

Helen Housby (England Netballer) describes her anxieties after their one-point win in the Commonwealth Games in 2015 [29]: “I had to learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable”.

WHAT CAN I DO TO MANAGE STRESS AND ANXIETY?

The good news for netballers is that evidence shows that there is a number of beneficial techniques to manage stress and anxiety. For example, a review of stress management techniques found 96% of the interventions used were able to positively modify stress and 54% had beneficial effects on performance [17]. This study also indicated that implementing these strategies in combination will have the greatest effects on your netball performance.

1. REDUCE THE STRESSOR:

A primary intervention of stress management could involve reducing the cause of the stress. Studies have shown that this may be an effective strategy across multiple life domains, including sport performance, but research is limited [18]. This is often due to the long-term efforts required to implement it and the difficulty of reducing stressors that are out of the athlete’s control [19]. For example, you have little control over the opposition you face and there is always going to be competition for selection. However, there are some ways that you can attempt to reduce the intensity of some of your competitive or organisational stressors.

You could have a discussion with your coach about having more control over:

• role clarification within the team e.g. the role of captains and vice-captains OR positioning

• the creation and setting of goals

• structure of trainings e.g. enough time for skill development, fitness and game-play

2. MODIFY APPRAISALS:

Reappraisal techniques involve reinterpreting the meaning of stressors within the environment [20]. Through using positive thought control, you can not only stop a threatening or negative stress appraisal, but you can also learn to replace it with a positive one. Research has found that athletes who can reappraise negative stressors to become more positive have lower state anxiety and increased confidence and focus, which in turn enhances their sport performance [21].

To implement positive though stopping for yourself, it is recommended that you use the following steps [22]:

1. You should start by identifying the negative stress appraisal, which may arise before or during competition.

2. The next step involves blocking this negative appraisal, which is done using by blocking triggers. For example, you could use the word ‘stop’ or ‘replace’, or even imagine a red ‘stop’ sign.

3. Finally, you should replace the negative appraisal with a challenge or positive appraisal of the stressor.

You could also keep a diary or write a list of the negative thoughts you have about the stressors. This may be useful to help you identify the stressor and can be useful in the future to look back and see how you were able to appraise it more positively.

3. REDUCE EXTREME OR NEGATIVE ANXIETY STATES:

Imagery is a psychological skill that athletes often use to reduce state anxiety and increase concentration [23]. You might have heard of this term before and believe it simply refers to “imagining yourself perform a skill, without actually preforming the movement physically. However, imagery is made up of a number of components and can be be used before, during or after practice or competition. It may sound like a simple skill to learn, but it can take some practice for netballers who have never used it before.

The PETTLEP model of motor imagery [24] provides an easy to follow checklist of how you can effectively implement imagery. This model extends past visualisation and acknowledges the importance of the physical skill. This means the closer the imagery is to the performance of the task, the more effective it will be at enhancing your performance and reducing negative responses [25].

Listed below are some key points and examples of how you can effectively implement this psychological skill in netball:

• Physical – the imagery should closely reflect the physical performance of the skill e.g. a netballer may hold the ball and wear their netball kit when imagining the skill.

• Environment – the imagery should be conducted in the same environment as the skill would be performed e.g. the imagery should ideally be performed on the netball court.

• Task – the imagery should contain the same skills as the athlete would physically perform e.g. a Goal Shooter could imagine shooting the ball into the net, whereas a Goal Keeper could imagine making an intercept in the circle.

• Timing – the imagery should match the real-time performance of the skill e.g. you shouldn’t imagine performing a pass in slow motion.

• Learning – the imagery should reflect the skill level of the athlete and should be adapted when a new skill is learnt e.g. a Wing Attack could progress on to imagining a reverse-pivot, rather than a dodge once this news skill has been learnt.

• Emotion – the imagery should include imagining the emotions associated with the skill e.g. arousal when in competition. However, make sure these are not too negative, as these can have detrimental effects on netball performance.

• Perspective – you should imagine performing the skill from your own viewpoint, rather than as an external spectator.

4. USE EFFECTIVE COPING STRATEGIES:

Coping strategies refer to the actions that the athlete takes in response to their environmental stressors and can be cognitive or behavioural [26]. There are three main types that have been identified:

• Problem-focused coping involves the athlete proactively looking to find a solution to the stressor.

• Emotion-focused coping involves strategies to manage the negative emotional consequences of the stressor e.g. denial or acceptance.

• Avoidance-focused coping refers to strategies the athlete uses to disengage with the stressor, such as avoiding the situation where the stressor is presented or trying not to think about it.

Problem-focused strategies have been found to be the most advantageous for stress management and sport performance. While, emotion- and avoidance-focused coping have been found to be maladaptive and cause increases in negative anxiety [27]. Therefore, below are some strategies you can use to cope with your stressors in netball:

• Preparing set-plays and tactics before competing

• Creating game plans for when facing specific opponents

• Seeking support from teammates and coaches for technical information

• Increasing effort in practice and competition

This blog has aimed to provide competitive netballers at many ability levels, with research-based information on stress and anxiety. After reading, you should understand how both stress and anxiety are experienced in netball and the effects it can have on your performance. By implementing a combination of the stress management techniques discussed within the blog, you can prevent the negative effects of stress and anxiety responses.

Check out the associated infographic on the next post.

References

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28. The Guardian (2019).Resurgent Chelsea Pitman making Australian’s netball loss England’s gain. Available at; https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/14/chelsea-pitman-australia-netball-england-kevin-locke. Accessed: 20thNovember 2019.

29. BBC (2019). Netball World Cup 2019: 'I have to be comfortable with the uncomfortable' – Housby. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/netball/48868875. Accessed on 20th November 2019.