Absolute vs. Relative Performance

In today’s world, the research and new knowledge of athlete’s body’s have lead to continued record breaking performances. Athletes in today’s games are bigger, faster, and stronger than they have ever been. The physical research out there can be applied to the “absolute performance.” (gee) Are athletes underachieving in the mental department? In Gee’s articles he debates the general view of sports psychology in the competitive sports world is misunderstood and has the potential to increase competitive athlete’s performances significantly.

With so much attention directed on the “absolute performance” Glee is under the impression that the mental side of an athlete is being undervalued. As a result he believes it is coaches that don’t put enough emphasis on mental framework. As the test shows between athlete A and B with superior genetics going to athlete A, biased of physical training he will always hold the advantage. Glee explains how athlete B’s best advantage is in “relative performance” and discusses that performing at 100% of your ability has greater means then being able to physically outperform someone “on paper”. Glee states that performance inhibitors can be a factor in this effect. Inhibitors can exist internal and external and range from crowds, officials, opponents, headwinds, weather conditions, precompetitive anxiety are just to name a few. Glee thinks these situations can be much improved by sports psychology if treated correctly and a different outlook from the competitive sports world existed.

The article talks about how the mind and body is connected and that is something the author has us assume and doesn’t really explain why on a scientific front. He does do it in a way connecting the mind and body through sports activities but on a different level. In relating these concepts one of the problem Glee feels particularly needs addressing is anxiety. Glee expresses it as Heightened Precompetitive Anxiety. This anxiety can cause athletes to perform below their potential ability. There are two general categories of anxiety, cognitive and somatic. Simply cognitive is negative thoughts and self-doubt. Somatic is when someone has autonomic arousal response or in other words has extra muscle tension that negatively affects the performance caused by their mindset.

All factors discussed by Glee he argues can be limited by sporty psychology. In an effect to gain more recognignation of the field he tries to lay out the article in a way that bridges the gap that currently exist between athletes and coaches idea verses what takes place in the sports psychology field. He also tries to present a working framework how his field can directly affect.

William Parker

http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html