Sports are a worldwide activity that allows people the opportunity to connect with others and learn team building skills. Furthermore, sports are a great way to further your education through scholarships opportunities or even play professionally. Although these ideas are very exciting, it can be very difficult to get noticed due to the vast number of athletes striving for the same goal. Because of this, athletes develop nerves and anxiety before the game or during game time performance which will alter their performance. Pre-game nerves are sometime okay, but they must make sure those nerves subside once the game starts, or the athlete will slowly start to unravel within the game. This can be damaging to the player’s confidence, and they are not able to showcase their full potential or abilities.

Let’s start with a question first, have you noticed that most professional athletes usually have a smile or a sly smirk on their faces as they are playing or right before a big moment of the game? Have you ever asked yourself, “how can they be so happy during such an intense moment?” Here is my answer to that question. During those crucial moments, those specific athletes use a technique called reframing. Reframing is where you alter your perspective of the situation and frame it into an alternative situation. If the athlete can reframe the scenario from “worried” to “the opportunity to” then the athlete is allowing themselves to be more prepared to reach peak performance.  When thinking from the situation as, “the opportunity to” changes the dynamic of how the athlete views the current situation and potential hurdles set forth.  Furthermore, this perspective will give the athlete a goal to run towards their goals instead of running from mistakes.

In summary, what you perceive can potentially dictate your reality and will ultimately alter performance. If you continue to view the situation as difficult or unattainable, then there is a good chance that the goal will not reachable. However, taking the time to reframe the context and perceive the situation as “the opportunity to”, the athlete will have a better chance of performing at peak performance.