anxiety - (Tag)

Anxiety and HRV in Competitive Swimming Performance By Vanessa Steigauf, Swimming World College Intern That tense feeling right before you get on the blocks is something many swimmers experience prior to their races. You get a little shaky, thoughts begin to race, you nervously jump up and down. Par...

By Haley Wen, Swimming World College Intern. Whether you’re just starting out your swimming career or you’ve reached the highest levels in the sport, anyone can experience nerves behind the blocks. Sometimes these pre-race jitters are easy to shake off, but if they’re severe enough, they can prevent...

By Maggie Lasto, Swimming World College Intern. Have you ever experienced the pre-race jitters or the meet-day butterflies that make your stomach feel uneasy? What about the, “I just want to get this over with” attitude when the negative thoughts start creeping in? Have you felt sweaty palms, a raci...

By Maddie Strasen, Swimming World College Intern. Perhaps you struggle with anxiety, depression or another mental illness yourself, or maybe you’re helping a friend through his or her battle. Mental illnesses are no walks in the park themselves, and adding the stress of a sport doesn’t make the stru...

7 Things That Swimmers Fear Will Go Wrong on Race Day By J.P. Mortenson, Swimming World College Intern. After months and sometimes even years of training for what will hopefully be the fastest swimming of your life, race day has finally arrived. Race day is a nerve-wracking time for swimmers, as the...

By Isabelle Robuck, Swimming World College Intern. We spend countless hours training for one meet, one race, one time, and one feeling - success. Different swimmers define success differently. For some, it looks like dropping time and taking titles. For others, the glory doesn’t come as sweet. Some ...

By Taylor Covington, Swimming World College Intern. It’s typically deemed unpleasant–the churning sensation in your stomach accompanied by the slippery glaze across your palms and forehead–when the body starts to edge out the brain in assuming an organic and fascinating state of hypersensitivity. Ea...

Five-time Olympian Michael Phelps continues to lend his voice to the promotion of mental health awareness by recently appearing in the Indie film 'Angst.' The 56-minute film explores anxiety and features candid interviews with both adults and children who have suffered, or are currently suffering fr...

By Jamie Kolar, Swimming World College Intern. October celebrates Mental Health Awareness Week, however, we should always make time to talk about it. Mental health is crucial to your overall well-being, let alone your performance in and out of the water. Although mental health has always been import...

6 Thoughts That Go Through the Mind of an Anxious Swimmer By Tara Draper, Swimming World College Intern As an athlete who has battled anxiety for most of my life, receiving an official diagnosis was a relief. It allowed me to understand why my brain works the way it does and find ways to change my t...

How to Handle Anxiety Heading Into a Big Race Or Stretch Of the Season Am I good enough? Are all the hours that I have practiced going to pay off? What if I do not drop any time? These are some of the questions that might go through a swimmer’s head before a race. With conference championships and n...

The Invisible Villain: Facing Pre-Meet Anxiety Swimming can be one of the most gratifying sports to participate in. Nothing beats the thrill of touching that wall first. But it can also be one of the more anxiety-inducing sports, as swimmers face pressure to drop just a hundredth of a second. Out of...

How Swimming Can Help Improve Mental Health (Or Ease Stress) Recently, the topic of mental health has started to come up more and more in discussions about sports. Adults and students alike want to raise awareness about mental-heatlth issues. They also want to offer solutions on how to deal with str...

How Sports Psychology Can Help Athletes Through Difficult Times Michael Jordan, Russell Wilson, and Tom Brady. Three well-known names in professional sports have all utilized sports psychologists. It is no secret that people all over the world enjoy sports. Playing them, watching them, all of it. So...

By Xonzy Gaddis, Swimming World College Intern. Rebecca Soni, retired Olympic champion and former world record holder in the 100 and 200-meter breast, continues to impact the swimming world in significant ways, particularly through creating strong connections between athletes. Currently, Soni mentor...

By Xonzy Gaddis, Swimming World College Intern. You line up behind your lane and shake off the nerves you plan not to take into the water with you. Then, you take a deep breath as you hear the whistle signal that it is time to climb up on the block. Finally, the signal sounds. What do you feel? The ...

Welcome to this week’s installment of the Coaches Clipboard! Swimming World will be bringing you a drill, concept, or tip that you can implement with your team on a regular basis. Each article is designed to be easily understood, outlining the what, why, when, and where of each concept in addition t...