Sport and the anxious mind

ABSTRACT

Sport is the locus of varieties of athletic experience. In this paper, I focus on anxiety as a felt experience in sport. Anxiety is often experienced as a form of psychological distress. It is a common experience and one that is arguably a frequent companion of sports participants. By exploring the underlying nature of anxiety, we may gain a better purchase on both why anxiety occurs in sports participation, and what contours it takes. I posit that the experience of anxiety in sport is informed by a variety of factors: biopsychological, social, and ontological factors. Each factor provides insight into the nature of anxiety in sport and beyond. I also explore some of the reasons why human beings pursue competitive sporting endeavors that give rise to anxiety and examine the possibility of ameliorating anxiety in sport.

KEYWORDS:

• Anxiety
• fear
• competition

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Elizabeth N. Agnew, Paul Gaffney, and an anonymous reviewer for comments on drafts of this paper. A version of this paper was presented at the British Philosophy of Sport Association 13th Annual Conference, Eastbourne, England, U.K., April 2016.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Tuncel (2019, 59) helpfully distinguishes between ‘sport-specific emotions’ and emotions that are not tied specifically to sport, but that may be experienced in a sports context. As an example of the former, he mentions a player who becomes angry at a teammate for his poor play. To illustrate the latter type of emotion Tuncel describes the jealousy that a player might experience when someone else flirts with a player in whom the first player has a romantic interest. Finally, Tuncel notes that in some cases the emotion might be of a mixed type. His example is one in which fans hate the supporters of an opposing team, not just because the hated supporters back the opposition, but also because they are from a nation they hate.

2. The movie Hoosiers gives the viewer some sense of this.

3. National Football League great Fred Biletnikoff apparently also frequently vomited before games. I am indebted to an anonymous reviewer for this tip.

4. According to Beilock (2010, 12) ‘dystonia’ refers to ‘a neurological disorder typified by involuntary movements that result in twisting and spasming of body parts. Dystonia can occur in a single muscle group (focal dystonia) or in a more generalized fashion that affects multiple body parts (generalized dystonia).’

5. My thanks to an anonymous reviewer for the reminder that some people hold that anxiety may not always have an object.

6. For a view of emotions that has some similarities to LeDoux’s account See Lisa Feldman Barrett (2017). She writes: ‘Emotions are not reactions to the world. You are not a passive receiver of sensory input but an active constructor of your emotions. From sensory input and past experience, your brain constructs meaning and prescribes action. If you didn’t have concepts that represent your past experience, all your sensory inputs would just be noise. You wouldn’t know what the sensations are, what caused them, nor how to behave to deal with them. With concepts, your brain makes meaning of sensation, and sometimes that meaning is an emotion’ (31). For a primer on the history of emotions see Plamper (2017). Plamper discusses the debate between social constructivists and universalists regarding the nature of emotions.

7. Strictly speaking, Heidegger is talking about an ontological condition of Dasein. Nevertheless, this ontological characteristic is related to the fact that each individual is born into a sociocultural web of meaning that is not of one’s choosing.

8. On the pervasiveness of the ‘performance ethic’ and of ‘measuring up’ in American culture, see Mannon (1997).

9. For a Heideggerian analysis anxiety and fear in the context of novice skydiving, see Breivik (2010). Breivik suggests that the anxiety experienced by a novice skydiver is a vehicle for authenticity in the Heideggerian sense. See also Tuncel (2019), especially 63–66.

10. Tillich (1952, 41) writes: ‘In all three forms anxiety is existential in the sense that it belongs to existence as such and not to an abnormal state of mind as in neurotic (and psychotic) anxiety.’

11. This is true in golf handicapping, so there is evidence to support this claim. On the other hand, consider that powerhouse college sports teams often schedule weak opponents during the early part of the season as tune-ups.

12. See especially Feezell (2013), chapters 2–4, 29–91.