Relaxation Techniques on Athletes’ Performance in Sports: An Overview

Abstract

Sport is characterised by both positive and negative emotions, which can 
harm athlete’s performance. Emotions such as stress, anxiety, anger, 
even excitement can impact their performance. Sometimes athletes get 
tensed-up such that it prevents them from performing their best at 
crucial times. Also, success in sports is determined partly by physical 
conditioning, skill and preparation but it is also influenced by 
psychological factors such as self-confidence, motivation, concentration 
and emotional control. When two athletes of equal and often unequal 
ability compete, the athlete with mental edge most often emerges as the 
winner. Athletes can achieve this edge with the use of mental skills 
training. One of these mental skills training is a relaxation technique. 
Relaxation can be defined as a psychological strategy used by sports 
performers to help manage or reduce stress-related emotions (for 
instance anxiety and anger) and physical symptoms (for example physical 
tension and increased heart rate) during high pressurized situations. 
There are many types of research indicating that relaxation technique 
benefits athletes by enhancing self-confidence, concentration, 
performance, reducing anxiety and stress, blood pressure as well as 
muscle tense. Relaxation can be done individually or in a group. It is the 
focus of this paper to examine the influence of relaxation techniques on 
athlete’s performance in sports. Also, different types of relaxation 
techniques are discussed all of which, can be used to help the athlete 
relax and perform optimally in their sports.