Anger in Sport: Helpful, Harmful, or Both? 

Anger in sports is generally viewed as an undesirable negative emotion. Anger can certainly be detrimental when it leads to uncontrolled reactive aggression. In addition, anger can have adverse effects on fine motor coordination and decision-making skills, which in certain sports or positions would be extremely deleterious.

 

Conversely, some performance-enhancing factors come with experiencing the emotion of anger, such as an adrenaline release (increased energy), increased pain tolerance, and increased strength. For certain sports, and more specifically, certain sports positions, these characteristics can certainly be beneficial.

 

So how can athletes control their anger so that it benefits them when needed and is minimized when not?

  1. Helping athletes effectively control anger begins by increasing awareness and normalization. Consider anger in the same regard as other emotions. If athletes are not automatically discouraged from feeling anger as a normal human emotion, they can become more familiar with how their body feels at varying intensities of the emotion.

  2. On an individual basis and a sport-specific basis, each athlete has their own optimal level of anger that will enable peak performance. Finding this level can help athletes to non-judgmentally label their emotions. Further, since anger is activating, it is prudent to recognize the anger threshold at which self-control diminishes as well.

 

3 Steps to Find Your Optimal Anger Level:

Think back to the best performance that you have had. 

1. How much did you feel each of these on a scale of 0-4? (higher scores=higher anger) 

  • Angry

  • Grouchy

  • Annoyed

  • Furious

  • Bad-Tempered

2. How fast (or slow) was your breathing and heart rate? (higher HR= potentially higher anger)

3. Did you feel relaxed or tense or somewhere in the middle? (higher tension=potentially higher anger)

  • If you notice that your best performances are associated with low anger, relaxation skills (e.g., deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness meditation) can be employed to decrease anger back to a facilitative level.

  • Imagery can be a useful skill in anger management for raising awareness of how anger affects one’s performance, helping an athlete to relax when anger has them over-activated, and increasing anger when needed. Exposing one to anger under controlled circumstances via imagery helps them to become more comfortable with anger, understand how anger affects them, and learn to manage it better.

 

3 Ways Imagery Can Help You Manage the Effects of Anger:

  1. Increase awareness of how anger affects one’s performance: mental simulation via imagery can teach athletes how their decision-making skills change when their emotions change, all with the purpose of increased awareness toward finding optimal levels of anger for performance.

  2. Increasing anger levels with imagery: mentally recreate a trigger event to increase anger levels for performance within the visualization. Through imagery, athletes can rile themselves up with images that have previously made them angry.  

  3. Decreasing anger levels with imagery: rehearse anger management skills within the visualization after mentally recreating the trigger event to practice managing intense emotions. In addition, soothing imagery, such as the visualization of a safe and/or relaxing scene like a beach or a forest, can reduce anger levels and the activation associated with being angry.

 

Takeaway

Anger can be performance-enhancing or harmful to performance. It is most important to recognize how anger affects you for the tasks you need to perform in your sport. Once you are aware of the anger levels at which you perform best, you can recognize when you are not there, and get yourself to where you need to be for peak performance.

I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about the importance of managing your anger levels and how it can benefit you and your performance.

Interested in unlocking your performance mindset and achieving your goals using sport and performance psychology? Click here to schedule a free consultation with one of our expert consultants.

Blog Written by Dr. Michelle Bartlett

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