by Mark Schiffman, M.S.
As a sports fan, this past Sunday was a big day for me. It was the moment of truth and there was a lot on the line. I needed to knock down at least 5 more clowns in order to get the high score on the Down the Clown carnival game. I glanced at the time remaining – 10, 9, 8… My kids were watching, cheering me on. “Daddy! Daddy!” The prospect of all of the possible prizes was almost too much for them to handle. The pressure was on… and I choked. I missed with every ball and did not even come close to the high score.
Why do athletes choke on the big stage? Why does the MVP of the regular season play so poorly during the Superbowl (hypothetically, of course)? Sports psychologists refer to a concept known as catastrophe theory, or the cognitive anxiety induced in athletes when they are performing on the big stage. A fear of failure gets in the way of performance and could lead to actual failure.
While the pressure of Down the Clown far outweighs the pressure of the Superbowl, both Cam Newton and I would probably have performed better in our respective games if we incorporated some anti-catastrophizing REBT into our practice regimen. While it might be unpleasant not to knock down the clowns/win the Superbowl, would it be totally awful/terrible/catastrophic? REBT argues that when we look at a possible outcome as 100% awful, we tend to act in ways that would actually increase the odds of that “awful” event happening. The anxiety engendered when we awfulize interferes with performance, which could very likely lead to us athletes choking on the big stage.
