Sports at OHS

Standing right at the edge of the cliff. The feeling of the wind pushing you around, and the ground crumbling below you. That’s a feeling you hope you never encounter, but little did you know that it’s not that far off from the feeling of stress or anxiety.

Stress and anxiety is something super common in the world of athletics. What is the difference in the stress that each sport presents? 

Many student athletes struggle with both stress from school but also from their sport so how can they calm their own anxiety down, and how do coaches help their players? According to JT Wurtz, an alumni from the OHS football team a year ago, he needs to go to the gym and stay active in order to control his own stress. While Reggie Rhees, the Head golf coach and coach of the boys sophomore basketball team, also tends to do that when he falls under stress, when he coaches his teams he helps them focus on other things to help them relax a little bit more.

The stress can tag along on moments of not getting what you want. The reaction to this typically goes two ways. For example Ari Frye, a player on both OHS JV team and Mountain City basketball, says that when things don’t go his way he tends to get frustrated but then realizes he’s in his head and needs to focus on something else. Majority of the players said this, but on the other hand there are players with the mind set that they need to find what they can take control of. “You need to think of the next thing that can go your way and figure out how to control it.” said Emmet Dwyer, a player on OHS boys volleyball and Club V.

“You need to think of the next thing that can go your way and figure out how to control it.”

Stress can affect the performance of many players. Rhees mentioned “every player reacts a different way depending on how you approach them”. He explained that once they get in their heads that’s when they tend to miss more shots. “When I was in highschool I’d get a lot more frustrated. Now that I am older I’ve gotten a lot better with golf and I’ve learned from my mistakes.”. Rhees is an example of as time passes you get to learn more about yourself and how you play. 

The thing that every athlete wants is to win and succeed. With the amount of stress student athletes get put under it can be a bit hard for them to do that. The one thing that the majority of players say is to breathe and focus on the future. 

A research done at Harvard stated that taking a deep breath sends a message to the brain saying that it’s time to calm down. Although it may be hard for many athletes to find time to just breathe deeply it will not only help their stress levels but also their performance during games.

This is your sign to go outside and take a deep breath to let your body relax and let you improve the performance of your life.