3 Keys to Eliminate Sports Anxiety The Noise
Sometimes when I read the news, turn on the TV, or just walk out my front door, it appears the world has gone crazy. Some days I encounter more and more people who seem to exist in a state of digital interaction and very rarely seek to connect face to face. If you’ve experienced days like this, here are three keys to making sense of this crazy world.
Survival Tips – Tip #1. Eliminating or reducing social media will reduce some of the sports anxiety stress you take in.
Work responsibilities, family requirements, and bills are enough for most people. Adding social media sites to your daily routine can surely take you into information overload.
Social media can make it more difficult to distinguish between the meaningful relationships developed through person to person, face to face to contact versus those developed anonymously online. The numerous casual relationships formed through social media are many times, ego-centered interactions that can be quite intoxicating.
But by focusing so much of our time and spiritual energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections will often weaken. While social media does serve a purpose in delivering a message to a large number of people at one time, it can create a false sense of social relationship security. Don’t underestimate the power of face to face contact, a hug, and a long genuine conversation.
Survival Tips – Tip #2. Set time for prayer and meditation.
A prayer a day places the soul at rest. Take time for solitude and peace. Prayer can produce physical and spiritual healing. Prayer equips us with the spiritual power to overcome those things that cause anxiety, stress, guilt, resentment, and depression. Studies are consistently showing that mediation has a significant impact in supporting those dealing with sports anxiety.
Prayer connects you with the Highest God! When you get on your knees for prayer, be ready to receive a magnificent download. Prayer takes practice, so be patient. It is a daily routine that improves as you stick with it. Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Survival Tips – Tip #3. Surround yourself with positive people that provide balance.
Anxiety in sports performance can be reduced or alleviated when you surround yourself with people that are healthy in mind, body, and soul. People are just like your body. When you only address your physical body, your intellect and spirit suffer.
Lacking discipline and failing to take care of your body, makes you become ridden with disease, obesity, and other health issues. When you fail to feed your spirit, you cannot withstand the obstacles of life.
You must also have a balance among your friends. Some are strong in the body, others intelligent, and others are healthy in spirit. Keep your friends in balance so that you can sharpen one another. A biblical proverb says, “As iron sharpens iron, brother and sister sharpen each other.”
Get a professional mindset and performance coaching.
Survival Tips – Tip #4. Learn from the Greats.
It seems that the media has two agendas when reporting sports. The first and most obvious agenda is to report sports in an accurate and open manner that doesn’t lack integrity. The second is to engage its audience.
The media has no problem engaging and entertaining its audience. But often, this involves a compromise of integrity and reveals a bias in reporting.
Take the criticism of Baseball Barry Bonds. If you don’t know, he is arguably the greatest baseball player ever, not including Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Satchel Paige.
With Barry, it goes much deeper than race, but at the same time, the race is a large part of what’s going on. Historically, most sports writers and media have never represented the very athletes they cover. It’s no wonder most media pundits cannot understand Barry, Terrell, Kobe, or any other black athlete that doesn’t “get in line”.
Remember, Kobe was sort of a target and disliked early on because people did not understand his drive, work ethic, and approach to the game. Throughout history, the black male has always been scrutinized. The irony is how much we celebrate Babe Ruth’s and others, given their questionable lifestyles and lack of competition.
Given all of Barry’s so-called shortcomings, he is one of the most dedicated athletes the sporting world has ever seen. I do believe he used performance-enhancing drugs. But do you remember that between seasons in 1992-95 Barry complained about the number of players using steroids? The MLB ignored him and continued to market other stars well below Barry’s skill level.
Different Rules for Different People has always been a part of society…stay the course
Barry’s steroid use has a little to do with ego and a lot to do with MLB’s failure to monitor the game. It has, even more, to do with how black men in the past saw themselves in America and how some people view black men.
The narrative is changing for the better at a quick pace. The veil is being lifted. Quite possibly, Barry refused to get left behind and accept second place when he felt he was a better player. He may have concluded that sometimes the rules, or “game within the game,” aren’t a perfect match.
This isn’t about Barry choosing to cheat – it is about him making a decision to play within the rules that the MLB set, which crossed the line of competitive integrity. If we judge Barry, we must put his entire era, which means every player, under the same scrutiny.
If you ask Barry, he never thought he would hit 700 home runs, let alone 60 in a season. But once Mark Maguire hit 70 home runs, that was like saying, “Barry, we know you’re good, but we think Mark is a little bit better.” This has been the history of black men in Major League Baseball. “We know you’re good, but he is better.”
Barry Bonds Managed Sports Anxiety By Eliminating The Noise
We’ve always placed such emphasis on Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs, even though those home runs were hit during the time of segregation.
But at the same time, sportswriters and Major League Baseball refused to give much credit to Josh Gibson’s 800+ home runs in the Negro League.
Race and Major League Baseball have been integrated for a very long time – but not in unity.
It seems now that more people are just willing to “play the game,” if you know what I mean.
The bottom line is Barry’s criticism is multi-layered. You throw in jealousy, biased sports writing (based on the fact that 90 percent of sportswriters are white), Barry’s complicated personality and race, and the result is serious criticism. And the race itself is very complex: based on race; we perceive things differently, carry certain stereotypes.
Would it go too far to say that our tolerance level could be shorter or longer based on what race the person is? Is criticism lesser or harsher? This is an honest question to ask ourselves.
What You Need To Do To Reduce Signs of Anxiety during Sports Performance
What’s the answer? The answer for you the athlete is too understand that there will be people with agendas not so benevolent and people that look to take advantage of you or paint you in a negative light. You must, at all times, focus on your craft just as Barry did. With greatness, there is an opposition, expect it and move forward, deciding at all times to not place energy towards people or areas that take your energy. All your energy should be focused on achieving your sports goals and blessing those people you care about. Sounds simple!
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Barry Bonds Stats
- 762 Home Runs – Rank 1st
- 2227 Runs Scored – Rank 3rd
- 2558 Base on Balls – Rank 1st
- 2892 Runs Created – Rank 1st