In Psychology there are sever key relationships with the mentality of a performer a sporting performance. One important factor is anxiety.

Anxiety according to Weinberg and Gould is “a negative emotional state characterized by nervousness, worry, apprehension and associated w/ activation or arousal of the body” There are two parts to anxiety that cover both the thinking, known as cognitive anxiety and the physical effects known as somatic anxiety. Examples of cognitive anxiety include negative self-talk such as telling yourself that you aren’t good enough, an inability to concentrate on the task at hand and constantly performing well in training but are struggling to translate that into a competitive environment. Somatic examples include sweating, constant need of the toilet, muscle tension, headaches, dry mouth, bad sleeping patterns and feeling ill. This list is not exhaustive. Another view on anxiety can be that of both trait and state anxiety. Sometimes we can refer to anxiety as a stable personality component and sometimes it can be a change in a mood state. State anxiety is defined by Spielberger as “An emotional state characterized by subjective, consciously perceived feelings of apprehension and tension accompanied by or associated with activation or arousal of the autonomic nervous system” Tests can be taken to assess your state anxiety and self-confidence known as the competitive state anxiety inventory (CSAI-2). It measures both cognitive and somatic states. It is a self-assessment and has to be answered honestly to be accurate. It has a numeric scale and has to be taken twice: Before a relaxed training session and just before a competitive situation. Trait anxiety is based on personal behavioral tendencies. Speilberger saw trait anxiety as it “predisposes an individual to perceive a wide range of circumstances that objectively may not