Understanding the Stress Model

We dedicate significant time and effort to attempting to reduce stress and the accompanying feelings of anxiety. But despite our efforts, we encounter stress regularly, whether at work, in the car, with our family, or in sport. It is fair to say, then, that stress is unavoidable, and as much as we may want to escape it, it’s important to learn how to effectively manage it when it arises in our lives.

The sporting environment can significantly increase stress in two ways:

1. Physical demands: pushing your body to the physical limits through contact, high intensity and duration.
2. Mental challenges: increasing the decision-making and cognitive load, in addition to the consequences of actions in practice sessions and competition.

The physical demands and mental challenges in sport are not independent and as such further increase stress on the individual. As a result, it is important for coaches to understand how to manage stress for themselves and the people they coach.

So, what is stress?

Stress is commonly thought of as a negative experience or feeling, however it consists of many stages that occur one after the other, creating a whole process (Fletcher & Arnold, 2017). 

Let’s explore the stress model during a competition, typically a stressful time for both athletes and coaches. 

In this situation there could be several different sources of stress (stressors). These could include:

• arriving late at the venue
• forgetting an item of kit
• bad weather conditions
• feeling muscle tightness/pain during the warm-up. 

To better manage this form of stress, you (or your athlete) would recognise this ‘stressor’ and have an idea of its impact.

Individual differences and outcomes

Understanding the different routes each person can take at each stage of the process enables us to understand why some individuals thrive in stress whilst others do not. This is due to our individual differences!

These characteristics influence each stage of the stress process and ultimately determine the outcome, which can be:

• useful, such as when the individual harnesses stress to become motivated/engaged, and increase effort and attention
• less useful, such as when an individual withdraws socially, physically and/or verbally, feels down, becomes burned out, or chokes/freezes during competitions.

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