Topic: Competition pressure and coping with pressure

Competition pressure and coping with pressure interview Huseyin and Eliijah

Interview

Was there any type external and internal pressure you experience in team GB before and after competition? From running for GB or just general? Just in competition was there any pressure from internal rivals, from coach or other athletes? I suppose it difficult for me pressure is very personalised for me pressure is negative and I don’t think I really felt pressure from other competitors from coaches the only times I felt pressure was from the occasion, I felt pressure at the Olympics and when before I retired at 22-23 I was injured for a while before then so already having a lot of sponsorships I felt pressure from them not because they put pressure on me but because they were giving me money and funding that I felt pressure that I needed to perform well to justify those things. What psychological techniques did you use to handle pressure, Self-talk, imagery, did you use any? What I do is I recognised pressure quickly and I was used to feeling nervous, I knew if I felt nervous I would run well, I was more nervous if I didn’t feel nervous because I needed that extra amount of buzz, but I also recognised that when I went over that line to feeling anxious and worried those for was negative things because of feeling pressure, where I felt pressurised and worried I fink I recognised the physical side of it where I noticed I breather quicker and my heart beat increased where it would make me feel less in control so I would do to pull myself back from that is I would do some deep breathing to settle things down and I would imagine I was in this bubble that nothing can come in out apart from me and this bubble it made me feel protected, I would put on my shades so I feel blinkered from other people no one could see my eyes I could see them but they couldn’t see me I just get focused on what I needed to do I think for me it was pulling myself back to the routine so I had a routine that started from the warm up or two days before but depending when I started feeling that pressure I would employ that routine so it was stepping out onto the track, just bring myself back I would get my spikes on, I would mark my distance for the blocks or for the run up if it was a relay just going back to what was normal for me, the normality and predictability of things was how I coped with that pressure. So you would define yourself as someone who performances better under pressure? I think if you feel under pressure you won’t performance well because to me pressure is negative I think I performed well when I recognised what those pressures were but not allow them to affect me, so I could step out on to the track and I knew all the crowd and competitors where there I didn’t care that there T.V cameras so to recognise but not allow them to my wave sticking because you can’t get rid of them the crowd is still going to be there you can’t ignore them you can’t ignore the fact someone over there jumping up and down slapping themselves while the T.V cameras is in your face you have to let that all go to happen without letting it change your mind set or what your there to do as soon as you start thinking about those things that’s when your performance will suffer, this is how I felt, so you just focused in one thing and you tried to go with it? Yep just squeezed everything into a one like an arrow and went ahead with it. How was your relationship with the people around you such as your coach, your peers your family did they have high expectations of you? yes but I also had high expectations of myself I don’t think they expected more of me then what I expected of myself my family was really supportive they would drive me to my competitions financially they would help me I was really lucky, my coach as well we had a good two way relationship so we worked together he didn’t control me at all, the only time I felt pressure was when I couldn’t run well and I felt I was letting people down because I was getting a lot of support financially from sponsors because I knew I couldn’t run as fast as I could because I was injured that’s when the pressure set in. Did you experience any sleeping problems before or after competitions? During training no I would always get lots of sleep I would experience sleeping problems maybe one or two nights before competition just because of nerves. I didn’t mind feeling nerves it was a normal part of me competing, if I felt nerves and I couldn’t sleep it was because I was dreaming or think about the race so I was more focused on what I was doing because that was normal for me to not sleep so well the night before it wasn’t a problem for me because I felt this was normal for me. Did feel you lived up to your own expectations within your career? Yes I think I carried myself well even though I wanted to achieve more but it was out of my control due to injuries. Did you frequently experience anxiety before or within training? I never really felt anxious I would feel nerves within the weeks or if I thought about a major competition but not anxiety as anxiety for me is very negative, I would feel a flatter of nerves but I liked that because I would say I ran better knowing I was nerves because I think as a sprinter you need that extra amount of buzz you need that quick reaction, I did feel nerves but that didn’t impact on anything else I still ate healthy I still recover well from training I still trained hard actually having those nerves beforehand isn’t a bad thing because you get used to running with those nerves so it doesn’t surprise you on competition day. Did being injured frequently cause any type of performance anxiety or performance pressure? Not so much I think because I was injured frequently from the start of my career from a young age I never had a full winters training until the age of 19 I was used having to deal with injuries and get over them by covering and changing my goals re-evaluate the season taking some time off that was normal for me, so it didn’t change how I felt going into a competition because I was used to having to go the long way around to achieve what I wanted, I didn’t have the best training up until this point in my career, when I got to the Olympics I hadn’t started training up until May and the trials was in July so I still managed to put it back even then because when you injured they tell you what’s wrong and how long it will take to recover so used to plan it out in my mind and cope with it, the times that was hard was in competition 2 years before I retired I was injured and they didn’t know what was wrong with me, my injury was changing I seen lots of different doctors but I couldn’t get my head around on how to cope with it so when I tried to compete when I wasn’t at 100 percent and I didn’t know what was wrong with me was really difficult, this was when I felt pressure especially because I had a lot of sponsorships at that point in my career and all of this felt more heavier on my shoulders then when back when I was fit and at 100 percent. Were there any pressures that lead to an early retirement? Even though the people around me was very supportive I put pressure on myself especially at the times when I was injured and the times I couldn’t run well I felt bad for being funded by my sponsors because I couldn’t meet their expectations which put pressure on me because I felt guilty for taking money while resting and recovering, it was more and internal pressure then external. If you didn’t have any sponsorship within your career did you feel you could have performed better in competition? Yes because even at times that I didn’t perform well I would have just beat myself up instead of worrying and feeling guilty about the funding I was receiving which would have reduced the pressure on my shoulders, I would have only had responsibility to myself instead of others. Was there any rivalry’s within the GB team that lead to pressure? There was a bit of unsettling within the team as other girls felt they needed to run faster than the rest to prove they was better sprinters, there was gossips within the backgrounds and I think this affected me at the time because they was talking about how often I was injured and they was hoping that I don’t get injured again as I was in a relay team so this put a bit pressure and worry into me as in the last run’s I felt that I didn’t push myself to my limit in the fear and worry of getting injured again which would have disappointed and let a lot of people down including myself. Despite this overall I was pleased with my performance at the Olympics.

Information about the client:

The client is a former GB track and field sprinter

Three times English Schools Champion

Six times AAA National Champion

Represented GB at Sydney (2000) Olympic Games

PB times : 100m (11.44s)

200m (23.26s)