A New Perspective on Choking:
Part 2

Olivier Lingbeek, Phd

You can compare playing a big point at any level to entering an arena. The moment a player has to start serving at an important point in the match, a field of tension arises in that arena between two poles. (Click Here for Part 1 in this series.)

Healthy versus Unhealthy Tension

On one side is the goal, and on the other side the individual playing the point. Players try to bridge the distance between the two poles—by winning or by not losing. This increases the tension between the player and the goal. If, after repeated attempts the goal is not reached, then the frustration increases and the tension can become unbearable.

One way to handle this tension is with the irrational thought that you are somehow less of a person by, for example, double faulting at a key moment. This thought will cause the tension to disappear immediately. But this is only for a moment.

Its a short-term solution because, although the tension is gone, the player sinks into a pit of feelings of inferiority. So whats the solution?

Exercises

Lets outline some exercises for a player using RET or rational emotive training. It could be Kiki Bertens as discussed in Part 1. But it could be any player, for example Aryna Sabalenka with her serving problems, or any player at any level.

To avoid the "cop out," the temporary escape through feelings of inferiority, the player has to have the willingness to take on the tension of the big point and to neutralize the feelings of inferiority.

The means staying in the tension field. It means opening yourself up to whatever negative could happen, tolerating this healthy tension and minimizing the unhealthy tension of negative self thoughts as much as possible.

Frustration Tolerance

Healthy tension moves you toward your goal. The inability to hold this tension and the tendency to withdraw from it is called Low Frustration Tolerance.

You can increase your ability to deal with competitive tension by addressing your frustration tolerance. You do this by devoting your energy to reducing inadequate feelings.

You no longer seek refuge by disparaging yourself. You fully accept the uncertainty of the outcome. You eliminate the dysfunctional tension and increase your frustration tolerance by focusing your energy on what you do rather than who you are.

You say to yourself "I'm going to do everything I can to win, but I'm allowed to lose, that never makes me inferior. If I do serve poorly, by hitting a double fault on a big point, then I serve poorly and that never makes me less of a person.

You might say to yourself "I don't feel like enduring all that tension." The antidote is to tell yourself: "I'm going to tolerate that tension."

"Id prefer to hit an ace but I'm allowed to hit double faults as often as I do. If I hit a double fault that never makes me a lousy loser. At most I am someone who hit a double fault. And I can live with that."

RET Visualization

The RET therapist could say to the player: "After that affirmation, the second thing you can do is a rational emotive imagination exercise. Close your eyes and imagine as vividly as possible that you are serving for a big point. How does that make you feel?"

The player might answer: "Powerless, anxious. I feel the eyes of the spectators on my neck."

The therapist might say: "Make that feeling of powerlessness as strong as possible."

In the RET visualization exercise, the player strongly imagines something negative happening that he would normally get very upset about. By imagining it as vividly as possible, inadequate feelings are likely to arise.

The therapist asks: which feeling or feelings come up for example, inferiority, powerlessness, or a combination such as fear and inferiority do you feel the most?

Then the therapist says: "With your eyes still closed, imagine a situation where you feel tension on a second serve or match point or at any important moment in the match. Then as you continue to imagine the event as negative, change the inadequate feelings into adequate ones."

"When you are ready, try to change that feeling into a healthy feeling. Make that positive feeling as strong as possible. Continue to do this until you have reduced those inadequate, negative feelings and replaced them with healthy feelings."

"Then open your eyes. Ask yourself exactly how you changed the feelings of inferiority, anxious tension or powerlessness. What did you do to make them less? But dont make that happen by changing the original situation."

Two Levels

Feelings of inferiority make you flee from the arena. But there can be two levels of this. The first level, as described above, is the problem of irrational thoughts.

The second level is if you start to develop unpleasant feelings about the unpleasantness. You develop a fear of the fear. Just as with a fear of flying, you have not only the unfounded fear that the plane is going down, but also the fear of that fear.

The way of getting rid of the second level is the same as the first, to accept it and at the same time develop the kind of antidotes described above. Just realize when you are in the second level.

An Action

A tennis coach or tennis player can also train a player to deal with choking on big points in practice situations by devising something that maximizes pressure.

A coach can also instruct a player to deliberately make a mistake at an important moment. The idea is not to get upset by that.

For example, the coach can tell the player to hit a double fault . The idea is to practice while feeling that pressure.

The coach then asks questions like what happened under that pressure, what came up? The idea is that you practice approximating what happens in a real situation.

RET asks athletes to recreate the pressure of choking. The advantage of this approach is that it provides the opening to use the techniques outlined in this article.

Much research is already being done on the contribution of RET in improving the psychological state of athletes in athletic performance. RET is fast establishing itself within sport psychology in improving the psychological skills and resilience of athletes.

The English researcher Martin Turner conducted several studies, examining the effectiveness of RETs application to athletes in other sports, young cricketers, soccer players and others. For example, Turner explains that the professional soccer world has an ego-driven climate perpetuated by coaches, parents and the soccer players themselves. This often leaves young soccer players stiff with stress and unable to live up to their potential in competition or training.

The common irrational thought pattern is that soccer players move from "wanting" very much to "needing" very much. Its the same in tennis.

Tennis has many other documented examples of the unhealthy effects of this kind of "needing" for example, Mardy Fish and Naomi Osaka. RET provides a step by step process for identifying, confronting, and overcoming these issues.