Performance under pressure (World Championships gymnastics)

Let’s talk pressure in sport! The World Gymnastics Championships and the return of big names to gymnastics, feels like a great opportunity to talk about this.

What are some examples of dealing with pressure?

There were many examples of where performers had to deal with pressure during the championships. Here are some of the pressure moments that I have picked out (whilst spending a lot of time watching the championships …):

• Jake Jarman moving from 8th-->1st in vault final.

• Simone Biles and Max Whitlock returning to the sport.

• Brazil women’s team making history in the team final.

• Many gymnasts competing to try and retain World's titles.

• Both GB teams dealing with falls at the beginning of the competition.

• First World's competition for many gymnasts.

• A clutch beam routine from Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos in the team final, to secure France's first ever team medal.

So, what is pressure?

When multiple factors combine to make performing well in a particular situation or competition especially important (Baumeister, 1984). This increased performance can either make athletes perform better, or worse than usual, and is influenced by different factors.

Poor performance under pressure

Sometimes performance can get worse under pressure, particularly when it is important to perform well, and athletes are trying to perform to the best of their ability. This is known as choking (Baumeister, 1984; Baumeister & Showers, 1986). Basically, at an important competition, where you really want to do well, the pressure gets too much, and performance gets worse.

Multiple studies have demonstrated choking in a sport setting. In baseball batting, batting average reduced under pressure (Davis & Harvey, 1992), with the same also occurring with basketball free-throws. Accuracy of throws was reduced between practice and a match (Dandy et al., 2001).

Optimal performance under pressure

However, sometimes performance can improve under pressure, also known as a clutch performance (Schweickle et al., 2021). Under a clutch performance, an athlete may feel they have increased concentration, are more aware of their surroundings and perceive that they are more able to achieve their goals. This may all be due to athletes perceiving pressure in a positive way (Swann et al., 2017; Schweickle et al., 2021).

Challenge or threat?

These performances (either good or bad) under pressure, may be explained by challenge and threat states. An individual’s reaction to a high pressure situation is impacted by biological, psychological-preceding, and sociological (environmental) factors (Blascovich & Mendes, 2000; Blascovich et al., 2003). A performers interpretation of the situation, will also lead to physiological consequences, which then impacts performance (which then impacts their interpretation again and so the cycle continues).

A performers interpretation of the situation is based on the weighting they give to situational demands and individual resources (Jones et al., 2009).

Individual resources	Situational demands
Self-efficacy	Perceptions of danger – e.g., ego, status, goals
Perceived control	Uncertainty
Achievement goal orientation	Required effort

In a challenge state, the perception of individual resources outweighs the situational demands:

This leads to more positive outcomes, such as more power from the body being available, with the performer also more able to use it. One physiological response in this state is that blood is delivered to the muscles more easily, thereby having a positive impact on performance. Athletes in this state are also more energetic, feel less pain and are able to think more clearly. Even usual negative emotions (such as anxiety) may be perceived in a positive manner and may be useful to performance.

In a threat state, the perception of situational demands outweighs individual resources:

A threat state is more detrimental to performance and involves more negative emotions, which can be unhelpful. This may lead to heavy legs or feeling lethargic and athletes feeling like they have less to give or being less able to manage pain. Cortisol is also released which may lead to feelings of stress, making it harder to make decisions.

Tips on performing well under pressure

1. Reduce attention on performance worries and what could go wrong (Oudejans et al., 2009).

When performers focus on the pressure and feelings of anxiety and stress, rather than on their performance, this may also lead to reduction in performance (in line with distraction theory). Thereby, by focusing more on the performance rather than worrying about the pressurised situation, this may be helpful.

2. Don’t reinvest attention (Beilock et al., 2002; Otten, 2009).

Reinvestment is where performers consciously try to control performances, which (ironically), then leads to poorer performance, usually under pressure. Focusing externally (i.e., reducing self-focus) may therefore help athletes when they feel pressure to perform well in a certain situation. Other research has suggested that to combat this, performers need to have less conscious focus (i.e., focus less on the movements they are performing), as this reduces the impact of the pressure and stops performers ‘forgetting’ how to perform well, thereby improving performance.

3. Remember past achievements but forget past mistakes.

Remembering a time when an athlete performed well, can help to increase their confidence, as if they have done it before, they can do it again. However, remembering poor performances is likely to increase anxiety and doubt, especially under pressure, so should be avoided.

4. Play to win, rather than playing not to lose.

If the focus is on not losing, this links to the points above, where athletes are more likely to worry and focus less on their performance. Focusing on winning and what is required to win, is likely to therefore lead to a better performance.

5. Be process focused and use imagery, visualisation, and self-talk.

Focusing on how to achieve the outcome, rather than just the outcome itself, will likely instil confidence in performers, by allowing them to realise what they need to do to achieve optimum performance. This may involve using positive and instructional self-talk to tell them what to do, as well as visualising correct movements for the performance. Both visualising the movements as well as a positive outcome, again increases a performers confidence that they will be able to do well in a challenging and pressurised situation. This links to focusing on what can be controlled, thereby increasing confidence and motivation. There are other psychological skills such as relaxation and goal setting, that may also be useful.

6. Increase perception of resources (challenge) and reduce perception of demands (threat).

As discussed in the section above, the situation should try to be viewed as a challenge rather than a threat, and this can be achieved by increasing perception of resources and reducing perception of demands. Self-efficacy may be increased by looking at positive past accomplishments, gaining social support and seeing others achieve similar goals. Controlling the controllables and using approach goals are again ways of increasing the perception of resources. One way to achieve such a state may be to reappraise anxiety/arousal as excitement. If an athlete tells themselves they are feeling nervous, they are likely to feel the pressure more and therefore perform worse. If they tell themselves they are excited, this reduces the feeling of pressure and allows them to perform to the best of their ability.

Reducing perception of demands may be to set achievable goals to reduce the perception of danger, to use pre-performance routines, imagery, and self-talk to reduce uncertainty and to practice well to reduce the perception of the amount of effort required.

7. Focus on what you can control, rather than what you can’t (Swann et al., 2017).

Focusing on what you can control (such as the amount of effort exerted) as opposed to what you can’t control (e.g., the opponent), can help performers feel more confident in their performance, and reduces anxiety and worries about things that they can have no impact on. Perceptions of control are also more common of those in a clutch performance state.

8. Set challenging but realistic approach goals.

Goals should be challenging enough to maintain the focus of athletes, and to give them something to strive towards, but if they are too challenging, this may de-motivate performers, and may be even less achievable under pressure. In relation to above, goals should be focused on achieving competence (approach goals, e.g., I will achieve x time), as opposed to avoiding incompetence (avoidance goals, e.g., I will not run slower than x time).

For more detailed information about the physiological and performance consequences of a challenge and threat state, Jones et al. (2009) is a good place to start.

I hope this post has been useful and interesting. If you would like to discuss this more,

get in contact or leave a comment!

Thank you for reading :)

References for more information:

Baumeister, R.F., 1984. Choking under pressure: self-consciousness and paradoxical effects of incentives on skillful performance. Journal of personality and social psychology, 46(3), p.610.

Baumeister, R.F. and Showers, C.J., 1986. A review of paradoxical performance effects: Choking under pressure in sports and mental tests. European Journal of Social Psychology, 16(4), pp.361-383.

Beilock, S.L., Wierenga, S.A. and Carr, T.H., 2002. Expertise, attention, and memory in sensorimotor skill execution: Impact of novel task constraints on dual-task performance and episodic memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Section A, 55(4), pp.1211-1240.

Blascovich, J. and Mendes, W.B., 2000. Challenge and threat appraisals: The role of affective cues.

Blascovich, J., Mendes, W.B., Tomaka, J., Salomon, K. and Seery, M., 2003. The robust nature of the biopsychosocial model challenge and threat: A reply to Wright and Kirby. Personality and social psychology review, 7(3), pp.234-243.

Dandy, J., Brewer, N. and Tottman, R., 2001. Self-consciousness and performance decrements within a sporting context. The Journal of social psychology, 141(1), pp.150-152.

Davis, M.H. and Harvey, J.C., 1992. Declines in Major League Batting Performance as a Function of Game Pressure: A Drive Theory Analysis 1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22(9), pp.714-735.

Jones, M., Meijen, C., McCarthy, P.J. and Sheffield, D., 2009. A theory of challenge and threat states in athletes. International review of sport and exercise psychology, 2(2), pp.161-180.

Otten, M., 2009. Choking vs. clutch performance: A study of sport performance under pressure. Journal of sport and exercise psychology, 31(5), pp.583-601.

Oudejans, R.R. and Pijpers, J.R., 2009. Training with anxiety has a positive effect on expert perceptual–motor performance under pressure. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62(8), pp.1631-1647.

Schweickle, M.J., Vella, S.A. and Swann, C., 2021. Exploring the “clutch” in clutch performance: A qualitative investigation of the experience of pressure in successful performance. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 54.

Schweickle, M.J., Swann, C., Jackman, P.C. and Vella, S.A., 2021. Clutch performance in sport and exercise: A systematic review. International review of sport and exercise psychology, 14(1), pp.102-129.

Swann, C., Crust, L., Jackman, P., Vella, S.A., Allen, M.S. and Keegan, R., 2017. Performing under pressure: Exploring the psychological state underlying clutch performance in sport. Journal of sports sciences, 35(23), pp.2272-2280.

(Images from FIG gymnastics Instagram)