Because performance anxiety is making players miss football games

McGregor recalled that he was in a meeting of a coach in a club in the mid -2000s in which an assistant coach said that a player had confided in him that he suffered from anxiety to perform. He said that the Senior coach replied: “Well, he will never play again”.

McGregor said that the times had changed for the better, even if the control of AFL players has never been more intense within the clubs, fans and in the media in which Dueling TV networks have panel shows every evening of the week.

What is anxiety for performance?

McGregor describes it as a specific version of general anxiety, which is activated in all of us in times of stress.

Anxiety is useful because it can help us to remain vigilant in daily situations, like looking in both ways before crossing the road.

However, McGregor said that too much anxiety can be distracting and even debilitating.

“The peculiar thing about sporting situations is, on the contrary, for example, in which you can say, well, I will set aside that for now … the players cannot say: ‘Hey, keep the game for 10 minutes here, I’m going to calm me’.

“So performance anxiety is that type of anxiety that occurs when we perceive a sort of threat about performance.”

He explained that the way athletes perceive threats can depend on their type of personality. All athletes need some excitement to perform at the requested level.

But when that excitement rises to become “cognitive anxiety” or a distraction, it can cross the line in stress, terror and fear.

“Certainly we have some artists who will close absolutely. You know, they run towards fire, people who thrive in those stressful conditions,” said McGregor. “Even if they still have a turning point in which, if we continue to increase, or continue to perceive an extra threat and pressure, there will be a point of no return … in which anxiety begins to get in the middle.”

“It was torture, every week”

St Kilda Great Nick Riewoldt opened on Channel Seven this week on his struggles for anxiety even if he never made him lose a game.

The five-time All-Australian was held at extremely high standards, inside and off the pitch.

“As someone who fought with anxiety in various stages of my life, for me there was always a difference between anxiety … and performance anxiety,” Riewoldt said.

“The 24 hours that led to a game that I found to be torture, every week, launching, but it was only something you had to navigate because it was your responsibility as a player.

“I have never lost a game because it was my responsibility to play. But I feel for the clubs at the same time because they have invested so heavily and want them (their players) out there.

“I don’t have the answer but I’m sensitive to it.”

‘Each part of your performance is sectioned’

McGregor explained that playing performance anxiety can increase the risk of physical injuries.

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“If you don’t do it well, if you don’t correctly position your body, you can really hurt yourself in seriously,” he said.

“But then there is also the psychological threat. So we are doing it very publicly. There are many people when you perform AFL at the highest levels, watching and every part of your performance is judged and sectioned. And so you know, the performance anxiety of a threat can be the psychological one.”

McGregor warned that not facing the main cause of anxiety and simply playing it, could cause deeper problems.

“If we push a player on the field that is not ready, whether physical or mental, if he does not feel capable, he will be counterproductive,” he said.

“They will try more failures. You know, they won’t have … that coordination and ability.”

High levels of anxiety can also lead to players who are unable to focus on everything that is happening on the field.

“In a dynamic game like AFL, where there are 35 other players on the ground, all who move in different directions, there is a lot to pay attention to,” McGregor explained.

“Get this type of attention narrowing, in which their ability to take all these different signs and understand what is important right now and shift their attention is reduced.

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“So we are preparing them for bankruptcy, physically and psychologically; they will not be able to perform well, which ends up worsening the problem.

“When it arrives at that point, it is better to take them back and work through … (a) desensitization process … we build them and give them coping strategies so that they learn to cope with increasingly high levels of stress.”

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