Forrester PE Dept

Anger

 

ANGER Definition:

An emotion whereby the individual has normally been offended, denied, wronged and a tendency to react through retaliation. It is a strong, uncomfortable emotion after being provoked.

 

Impact on Performance

Anger in sport can be very useful in the right situation but more often than not it is about how you control your aggression that makes the difference. Opponents look to ways of irritating each other in the hope it puts them off a game plan or affects their performance.

Anger can be seen in many different forms in sport. It can be something as simple as a player shouting at themselves after a bad shot, physically lashing out or even over exerting themselves in a skill such as increasing the power of the next serve.

Anger without control will mostly affect performance negatively and will increase the amount of poor decisions made. A player who controls their anger is much more effective and it pays to practice good mental strength. The ability to control anger comes from practicing in competitive drills which apply pressure to your skill level, such as practicing against a much better opponent or even against more opponents than you.

 

"...I was playing badminton and had spotted a weakness in their back court backhand side. I was able to play repeated shots to this area and it was very obvious they were unable to cope consistently. They were getting very angry and this helped me even more as they started making silly decisions and this added to the situation...""

 

"...I had been in bat for a few overs without scoring, the bowlers were very consistent with their pace and line. This was not a new situation for me as our senior school team had bowlers like this and we faced them all the time in the nets. I waited patiently until a wider delivery at which point I controlled my aggression into the shot and played it to the boundary...""

 

"...my putting was not particularly good during the round and I was becoming more frustrated and angry with my inability to score well. After one very poor putt I made the silly mistake of allowing my anger to boil over and at the next tee tried to drive the ball much further than normal. My technique was awful and I put my drive into trees. This only added to my poor scoring..."

 

"...my opposite forward was particularly good at protecting the ball and winning rebounds. I was really getting annoyed at his good play and at myself for letting the team down. I was drawn into making silly fouls against him and eventually my anger and lack of self-control built up to too many fouls and I was fouled out of the game..."