Level of Arousal “Arousal is defined as being in an energised mental state of alertness and preparedness for an activity”.

Intimidation by opponents Level of Arousal is Impacted by 2 You have two minutes on the clock to come up with as many reasons for your level of arousal not being at its optimum. 1 ? Criticism Recovery from injury Mistakes Crowd Pressure Anxiety Excitement Dips in Form Intimidation by opponents

Level of Arousal The key is to get “in the zone” and create a “performance bubble

Think of the catastrophic effect of over arousal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B5ioy3VNiw - Tim Henman, cartoon.

Elite Athletes can get it wrong and lack of mental fitness can impact performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkmrEqJiSEE - Stephan Feck Dive

And Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scKTiWshGcI - Usain Bolt False Start

And Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXWbkbwDUr4 Chelsea v Man Utd Penalties

Optimum Arousal Emotional Physical Mental At their Peak Sufficient adrenalin to create excitement Cognitive processes at their most productive Composure Maintained

Under Aroused Performer Over Relaxed Lapses in Concentration Training suffers due to a lack of motivation Not Hyped up enough Over Confident

Fear and anxiety consume a performer Over Aroused Nervousness and surge of adrenalin resulting in unpredictable behaviour. Fear and anxiety consume a performer Lose of timing, balance, fluency and skill repertoire Over stimulation Missing important cues in a game Information processing system is impaired impacting judgements/ decisions Angry Distracted

Red Alerts Errors due to nerves Lack of drive to succeed Blame culture rather than reflect on self Dwell on the past rather than the future Anger (focus on mistakes) Impossible set goals Anxiety dominates play Concentration deteriorates Fatigue (negative thoughts) Psychological barriers

Impact Positively in badminton Lin Dan In badminton being able to control your level of arousal and get it to the right level gets you prepared to do your best. The performer can shut out distractions and make the right decisions throughout the match on shot selection and movement. They have confidence in their performance and are less likely to choke under pressure. They can control the match and react to the cues of the opposition to prepare early and counter attack. They use their experience to shake off any issues in their performance to regroup very quickly. For example if a player serves twice out of the court they quickly focus on past experiences and maintain concentration and correct the issue immediately and never dwell on faults. He is a two-time Olympic champion, five-time world champion, and five-time All England champion. Widely considered to be the greatest badminton player of all time,

Final Thoughts Performers often need to build or rebuild their arousal level to the optimum state. Here are a few examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vlVvxypZJ4 – Bolt 200m World Record https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebZVMc0NKZs NZ Rugby Haka