One of my absolute favourite theories in Sport Psychology is the Theory of Challenge and Threat States (TCTSA) (Jones et al. 2009). Whilst I won’t go into huge detail for the purposes of this article, what I will do is summarise the elements that I think it is really beneficial for us, as sports participants wanting to perform at our best, to be aware of.
Do you ever notice that you feel a little different ahead of a competition? Not quite the same as before a training session for example? Some of us may find we notice some nerves, anxiety or ‘butterflies’. We may then find ourselves thinking of this as a ‘bad’ thing. Thoughts such as “I’m not ready” or “I’m going to mess up” may even start swirling around our heads, and then we start feeling even worse?! BUT did you know that these pre-competition nerves in themselves are not necessarily ‘bad’. What is much more important than their existence is how we PERCEIVE them. If we perceive them as being ‘good’ or ‘helpful’ to our performance, our thought process in turn is likely to be different, perhaps “I feel ready” or “I’ve got this”. Sounds preferable, doesn’t it? So, I hear you ask, under what conditions are we more likely to interpret our nerves as being ‘helpful’ to our performance?
The TCTSA posits that we may find ourselves in one of two motivational states, either a ‘Challenge State’, or a ‘Threat State’. 10 points for guessing which you think is probably preferable for performance…?! Did you guess? A Challenge State is what we are aiming for since this is associated with increased performance levels (and a positive interpretation of our anxiety!). To achieve this, there are three key elements to consider (all of which, I am happy to say, can be worked on).
1. High Self-Efficacy
I have found that clients are more likely to refer to this as ‘confidence’, but essentially it is the belief that you have the skills required to achieve your desired goal. Confidence (or self-efficacy) is not something that has to remain static and it can most certainly be built up and increased using various techniques over time. As a starting point, I often suggest that clients write an ‘achievements list’ detailing all of their accomplishments. This can be revisited and offer a great boost when needed! Keeping a training diary, so that you can look back over everything you have done to prepare for an event, can also be beneficial with this.
2. Perceived Control
This is closely linked to self-efficacy since as well as believing that you have the skills required to accomplish what you are aiming to, you also need to believe that you have sufficient control to execute them effectively. I have posted previously about ‘controlling the controllables’, and this is relevant here. There will, in any situation be elements that are outside your control. What you can do however, is ensure that these are not what your focus is on, and that instead the ‘controllables’ are firmly in your mind. If you have not already, I recommend grabbing a piece of paper and writing down both everything that is within your control for your sport, and everything that isn’t (hint – you may find that some things are in between, or that whilst you can’t fully control something, you can have some influence over it!).
3. Approach Goals
Anyone who has met me will probably know that I do love a bit of goal setting so it is probably no surprise that this is my favourite! But what do we mean by ‘approach’ goals? Put simply, we mean goals that focus on what we DO want to achieve (or ‘striving for competence) as opposed to what we want to avoid (‘avoiding incompetence’). To offer an example, as a golfer an approach goal may be that you “want to break par”, whereas an avoidance goal might be that you “don’t want to make a bogey”. Now, whilst a goal to break par would be best further broken down into the specific action steps required to achieve this, I hope it demonstrates the point. You want your goals to be positively as opposed to negatively framed.
So, in summary a Challenge State is associated with increased performance levels and is characterised by high self-efficacy, perceived control and a focus on approach goals. In this state, we are also more likely to perceive any pre-competition nerves or anxiety as ‘helpful’ to our performance (which quite probably in turn helps it further!). This is what we want to aim for! A Threat State, in contrast, is characterised by low self-efficacy, low perceived control and a focus on avoidance goals.
BUT WAIT – there is more!
One final thing, importantly relating to the fact that our minds and bodies are all connected! If we are in a Challenge State, not only are we psychologically more ready to perform, but there is a biological impact too! Whilst being in either a Challenge or Threat state can increase our cardiac activity (imagine a racing heart), a Challenge State will also reduce our vascular resistance, meaning that there is increased blood flow to our brain and muscles and increased blood glucose, further enabling performance. Now, if that hasn’t persuaded you that working on developing a Challenge State would be beneficial, I am not sure what will!
Thank you for reading my blog! If you have any questions, would like support developing your challenge state (or any other psychological aspects of sports performance), have feedback on the blog or want to suggest other topics you would like to see covered, please do get in touch. You can contact me via laura@laurarowe.co.uk
Reference: Jones et al. (2009). A Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes. International Review of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 2(2), 161-180
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