Generally, in managing stressful situations in skiing, we tend to use different strategies that vary in time and in each particular situation. We consider that by using the Situation Resolution Strategy we obtain greater benefit. This type of strategy allows a greater perception of control, while emotional coping tends to generate less.
Eriksen and Byrne propose the Bipolar dimension, whose extremes are repression (cognitive avoidance) and sensitization (cognitive vigilance). Based on these two dimensions, the authors suggest that we adopt four coping styles to stress-generating contexts:
- High vigilance and low cognitive avoidance (sensitive people).
- Low vigilance and high cognitive avoidance (repressive individuals).
- Low vigilance and low cognitive avoidance (people with mild anxiety).
- High vigilance with high cognitive avoidance (very anxious people or with lack of adequate coping).
Additional strategies to cope with skiing stressful situations may be:
- Accepting that a certain level of stress is part of the activity.
- Accept ourselves even when feeling stressed.
- Keep in mind that others also experience stress to some extent.
- Taking care of what is within our reach and putting everything else aside.
- Learn to identify the causes of stress helps to reduce worry and allows to take the next step.
- Skiing in the present moment, since doing it at the wrong time generates anxiety together with unnecessary worries because of our thinking about the past or the future.
The role of anxiety in the application of coping strategies
The ability to calm anxiety is critical in successful coping with stress. If we do not possess it, we would find ourselves constantly struggling with feelings of distress, whereas exceling in this skill would be able to recover quickly from the disappointments of skiing itself.
Anxious avoidance is determined when we seek to avoid anxiety by intentionally generating scenarios different from the one we encounter. A skier suffering from panic attacks or phobias would avoid the situation as soon as he feels the first signs of anxiety, whereas someone coping with anxiety generated by feelings of insecurity has defense strategies at his disposal.
In order to realistically assess both situations and responses, not only how experience in dealing with stressful situations is applied but also personality characteristics such as the self-confidence to remain calm and the ability to not give up when facing a difficulty are influential. In this aspect, our attitude towards seeking solutions is more effective than being overcome by anxiety.
Evaluative judgment and its relationship to stress management
The evaluative judgment is the subjective estimation that we make of the relationship between ourselves and the context. This judgment is linked to our own beliefs and can be made automatically or consciously and reflectively.
The evaluative judgment style occurs when we modify our way of thinking, changing our goals and the value we give to the context. There are two types:
- Primary evaluative judgment is that which we make when we are at risk. For example, making evaluative judgments about meeting a significant personal goal, about our beliefs, our social environment, our personal resources or intentions.
- Secondary evaluative judgment refers to the way of coping with the stressful situation, the control of stressors, and the perceived outcome.
The evaluative judgment involves the consideration of whether or not the situations were anticipated. We will consider less threatening those situations that can be predicted. For example, if an athlete considers that the competition in progress is complex for his abilities and does not expect a great result, the evaluative judgment will be less threatening to his own value and self-esteem. If, on the other hand, the competition is perceived as accessible and makes a good result, then a bad result will be evaluated as threatening to his values and goals since the negative result was not expected.
The importance of asking for help
Asking for help to confront a threat generally resides in the type of bond we had with our parents or caregivers. This bond in childhood has a great influence in our adulthood with respect to requesting assistance. The experiences of coping with threats in which helplessness was experienced in childhood may be repeated over time but in adulthood alternative means of coping are available. According to this will depend our difficulty to request help in certain situations to the instructor or coach or to other skiers. The type of help requested is generally oriented towards a technical need, but not necessarily towards an emotional one, which could normally be concealed.
Coping with stress in athletes
It was mentioned that coping is understood as those conscious behaviors we use to manage the requirements of the environment. Stressors are the internal or external demands in which the athlete skier develops. He can interpret them differently and not everyone evaluates the same situation or context in the same way.
The stressors of an athlete could be:
- His own expectations.
- The expectations of his coaches and family members.
- Potential injuries.
- The performance of the equipment.
- The competition context.
- The other athletes.
- The difficulty of the course or discipline.
All these factors can trigger stressful emotional processes which he should learn to cope with by managing his own physiological, emotional, and mental reactions.
The most common coping strategies of a stressful context for an athlete are:
- Control of evaluative judgments of the situation.
- Concentration on the goal.
- Relaxation.
- Positive thinking.
- Seeking support from others.
- Obtaining information about the event.
- Mental visualization of the performance.
- Humor.
- Positive internal dialogue.
Additional strategies:
- Acknowledging and accepting what is happening to oneself.
- Taking a step back to calm down and then dealing with the situation.
- Thinking about the times one felt this way and what one did to overcome them.
- Remembering that the situation is temporary.
- Breathing control: breathing deeply, consciously and through the nose. When faced with challenging situations it is advisable to pause for a moment to breathe deeply and rhythmically. Inhaling and exhaling several times oxygenates the neurons and allows to think better. When doing so, the back should be kept straight so that neurotransmitters move freely from the brain and spinal cord throughout the body.
There is some discussion as to whether athletes use a preferred type of coping or whether they fluctuate according to each situation. It would seem that an athlete confronts similar conditions in the same way. He could make mistakes during his descents but paying attention to the next turn quickly helps to regain control of his concentration by decreasing negative thoughts about the mistake made, feelings of guilt, pessimism about the performance or the possible outcome. This strategy of redirecting attention is very effective.
