A sport psychologist has shed light on an increasing problem in AFL, revealing that performance anxiety forces players to miss games and even undergo injury and breathing problems.
Dr. Matt McGregor, an experienced psychologist who has worked a lot in the world of football, sparked a renewed conversation on mental health in elite sports.
McGregor explained that performance anxiety – a specific type of general anxiety triggered by high stakes situations – weighs on football players.
He says that the condition, which is also familiarly known under the name of fear of the scene, becomes an increasing reason for players to lack games with physical effects ranging from the loss of muscle coordination to breathing difficulties.
“I have been working in sport for 25 years, it was really a kind of dirty secret,” he told The Age.
“Very few people were ready to talk about it, even to psychologists. They were certainly not ready to talk to coaches and teammates.
A sports psychologist says that performance anxiety obliges players to miss games, to undergo injuries and respiratory problems
The legend of St Kilda, Nick Riewoldt, was very open to his difficulties with pre-match anxiety
McGregor says that a certain anxiety is useful but that too can be debilitating and that each athlete treats it in different ways.
“We certainly have artists who will absolutely prosper. You know, they … run towards fire, people prospering in these stressful conditions, “said McGregor.
“Even if they still have a tilting point where, if we continue to increase this, or that they continue to perceive an additional threat and pressure, there will be a tilting point … where anxiety begins to hinder.”
McGregor says that players trying to play through their anxiety and not to face it could cause serious problems.
“If we push a player on the field that is not ready, whether physical or mental, if he does not feel capable, it will be counterproductive,” he said.
“They will undergo more failures. You know, they will not have … this coordination and this competence.
The legend of St Kilda, Nick Riewoldt, spoke of his difficulties against anxiety before the AFL matches.
He admitted in 2019 that he sometimes flowed from two to three kilometers before a match to reach his nerves.
Geelong champion, Patrick Dangerfield, also talked about the advantages of the use of a psychologist
“As a person who fought against anxiety at various stages throughout my life, for me, there was always a difference between anxiety … and performance anxiety,” Riewoldt told Seven this week.
“The 24 hours leading to a game that I found as a torture, every week, atrocious, but it was just something that you had to navigate because it was your responsibility as a player.
“I never missed a match because it was my responsibility to play. But I feel for clubs at the same time because they have invested so strongly and they want them (their players) there.
“I don’t have the answer but I am sensitive to that.”
Geelong champion, Patrick Dangerfield, also spoke publicly about the work he had accomplished with a psychologist during his career to help manage football pressure.
“Spending time and chatting with him (the psychologist) was brilliant. Not that you saw the game differently, but you consider it another moment, “Dangerfield told ABC Radio.
“So you understand what it is, and we understand as a team and individually it’s a game we want to win, but it’s just another game.”