Mental preparation : Stress Control or Management

This article is the fourth one of a series on mental preparation. Allow me a brief come back on the introduction of the last articles. My goal is to write an approach allowing the coach to improve some aspects of the mental preparation.

Here are a series of techniques that are part of the mental preparation:

• Relaxation
• Motivation
• Mental Rehearsal (technique)
• Imagery (self confidence)
• STRESS control or management
• Visualization (mental toughness)
• Activation level control

The first article of this series focused on mental rehearsal , the second on IMAGERY, the third on Visualization and mental toughness and this one on STRESS CONTROL OR MANAGEMENT.

Need for Stress :

Please, don’t start with the point of view that stress is always negative. Stress is essential for high performance. The curler who isn’t enough stressed has a tendency for lack of concentration, of intensity; this curler is absent-minded and anything that goes on affect him. Stress helps curlers to concentrate and play with intensity. But if the stress becomes to high, the curler start missing control, emotion comes in, concentration becomes disrupted and even neuro-muscular coordination is affected.

Level of Stress:

Stress is necessary provided the level is right for a high performance. The ideal level of stress is different from one individual to another. It would be an error to prepare all the team members the same way. The only way to be effective is to do so that each athlete knows the level of stress that allows him a high performance.

You face problems on important games if you have an athlete who performs well when the level of stress is low. In those situations, Stress becomes too high and this athlete cannot concentrate at his best. This curler has to find the level of stress within which he/she performs well and must establish strategies to put oneself into this level before the game. Of course, any athlete has to establish strategies to stay within the right level of stress during the game. We all know that at the end of games, the level of stress has a tendency to increase. We all have seen high level athletes experience difficulties at the end of important games.

On the contrary, if you have an athlete who performs well when the stress level is very high, you have to manage in such a way that he knows it and that he/she establishes strategies to place himself within this level of stress before the game and find ways to stay in that level during the entire game.

When playing a non important game or when playing a “week” team during a Championship, athletes that perform well when the stress level is low will generally play a good game. But athletes that perform well when the stress level his high will generally have a poor game since the stress level is too low for them.

Hey coach: you are privileged if your athletes are high stress performer. On important games, it is easier to find the right level of stress since your athletes naturally control that level of stress. We generally have one or two athletes that perform well when the stress level is low. These athletes can perform at a high level as long as they maintain their stress within the right level. We generally see low stress performer in the front as Lead or Second since the stress is easier to control at those positions. The high stress performers generally play at third and skip positions.

What should we do to find the ideal level of stress for each athlete?

What strategies could we use to make sure each athlete get within the right level of stress and maintain that level?

The form that follows is easy to fill and brings appropriate solutions. After a game, give a copy to each curler on the team and fill the form according to each ones feelings. It is recommended to fill the form all together to speak about solutions and answers. It is strongly recommended for coaches to fill that form; I am sure you can imagine the results on the curlers when the coach don’t control his/her stress.

Examples of symptoms:

Physical :	Do I feel my stomach thigh Do I feel my legs feeble Do I feel my hands wet Etc.	Behaviour :	Do I speak more than usual Do I move more than usual Do I get more involve in decisions Do I laught Do I look everywhere Etc.
Mental :	What do I think about What do I tell to myself Etc.