Top level performers face a huge number of stressors.
As the level of “competition” goes up, it seems so does the stress.
Scanlan et aI. (1991) interviewed 26 former national-championship figure skaters in order to identify the stressors encountered during the most competitive phase of their career. The sources of stress were categorised under five headings. These were: negative aspects of competition (competition worries), negative relationships, demands and costs, personal struggles (e.g. injury) and traumatic experiences (e.g., having significant others die).
Stress itself, stems from fear: Fear of the unknown, fear of what might happen, fear of losing, of things going wrong, fear of being alone.
Competition itself is divisive and competitive sports are no different.
As Paul Chek says: “For there to be a winner, there must be a loser.”
As I’ve ventured through my “athletic” career, from football and surf-lifesaving as a kid, to running, triathlon and adventure racing, I’ve seen a certain amount of joy from higher level competition, but also certainly a high level of stress.
When we shift our perspective to movement without competition (which may take some deeper work for sure, perhaps more than we know), we finally see some alleviation.
The question must be asked then, is sport specialisation the best idea for future generations when we look at general well-being?
