Psychology Paper

It is July 2008 and I am on the steamy, beautiful but windy beaches of Puerto Rico. The events of this day stand vivid in my mind, the adrenaline pumping, as I recall with ease the extreme levels of arousal that I experienced while competing in the intense gold medal match of the Puerto Rican beach volleyball championship. Being a highly competitive athlete I am astutely aware that my mind and body go through numerous transformations when facing certain situations or events in competitive sport. In this discussion paper the importance of arousal and anxiety in sport and my own personal experiences will be discussed and explored.

Arousal is a significant aspect in sport because it can change an athlete’s performance for better or worse. Arousal can be seen as the sentimental aspect that an athlete brings to their game. There are two extremes of arousal, low and high. When an athlete is experiencing low arousal they subconsciously let themselves perform and with little energy and effort, the task is undemanding. In contrast, performing with high levels of arousal allows the blood to pump in the body at a fast rate and the athlete feels as though there is nothing else that he would rather be doing than compete with a vengeance at that moment. When an athlete is experiencing higher levels of arousal the challenge is balanced with an equal chance of success and failure.

The golfer and quarterback arousal experiences discussed in class can be reconstructed to fit the sport of volleyball as well. Optimal arousal is when the athlete is performing in their ideal zone. To achieve optimal arousal the athlete would focus only on relevant cues and block out everything irrelevant. As an example, the primary focus for a volleyball libero might be low ready position and the relevant cues surrounding that would include the left handed power hitter, front row setter, key middle, coverage etc. By focusing on the important aspects of the game and ignoring the irrelevant...