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

2. 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

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

4. Think of the catastrophic effect of over arousal
- Tim Henman, cartoon.

5. Elite Athletes can get it wrong and lack of mental fitness can impact performance
- Stephan Feck Dive

6. And Again
- Usain Bolt False Start

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

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

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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,

13. Final Thoughts Performers often need to build or rebuild their arousal level to the optimum state. Here are a few examples
– Bolt 200m World Record
NZ Rugby Haka