Fear of Fear is the Goal

A common mental game challenge for athletes is the fear of failure. Fear of failure is a constant source of stress or anxiety and a huge barrier to an athletes’ mental game and performance. What is fear? In sports, fear commonly relates to the athlete’s perception of the significance of their performance and what they assume others (parents, coaches, teammates, and friends) think about their performance.
Fear is about avoiding poor results, and worrying about making mistakes before or during competition.

Athletes, who struggle with fear of failure, fear the negative consequences of a poor or less than perfect performance. Athletes worry about letting their team down, looking bad, disappointing a parent or coach and not performing up to the expectations of others. They also worry about things that are not under their control such as who their opponent is, or what field their playing on and most of this concern is unnecessary.

It’s not enough just to recognize that you have fear of failure before games or when competing. The key is to know what type of fear holds you back, so you can address your underlining sources of fear. Fear of failure often is related to what you assume others think about you, which we call social approval.

The following is a list of common types of fears athletes tell us they experience before and during competition:

• Fear of losing a match, game, or race – you badly want to win and are afraid you will not win.
• Fear of negative social evaluation – you fear others will view you as a failure in sports.
• Fear of embarrassment – you are afraid to embarrass yourself in front of others if you don’t perform well.
• Fear of letting others down – you do not want to let others down such as a coach, parent, or teammate.
• Fear of putting in the effort and not playing to your potential in games. You don’t want your hard work, talent and long practices to be for nothing.
• Fear of not performing up to others’ expectations – you worry about not meeting others’ expectations for you, such as a parent.
• Fear of being rejected, losing respect, or not gaining approval.
• Fear of making mistakes and not performing perfectly after having worked so hard at it.

Do any of the above fears sound familiar to you? The first step in managing your fear of failure is to understand the specific source of your fear so you can deal with it head on. For example, if you realize you’re afraid to let down your parents with a poor performance, the obvious solution is to learn how to play for yourself instead of others.










http://www.sportpsychologytoday.com/youth-sports-psychology/fear-of-failure/