High trait-anxious athletes' perceptions of competitive stress in sport : a phenomenological study

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of competitive stress of six Division I Southeastern Conference collegiate female athletes identified as high traitanxious.To obtain an accurate description of these experiences a qualitative phenomenological interview approach was used. One interview was conducted with each athlete and lasted between 20-30 minutes. Qualitative analysis of the transcribed responses revealed five major themes. These themes were (1) Sport Specific Types ofStress (2) Sources of Stress (3) Symptoms of Stress (4) Experience with Stress, and (5)Coping Strategies. These athletes experienced two types of sport-specific stress during their athletic event: continuous and situational. Participants also described their sources of stress. Sub-themes for sources of stress were external stress and internal stress. The Internal stress stemmed from a fear of failure, a feeling of a lack of control, and an overwhelming feeling. Once these athletes were aware of their source(s) of stress they began to describe the symptoms of stress. Sub-themes in this category included cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety. After the athletes described the symptoms they then described their experience of the stress. Sub-themes include positive experiences and negative experiences. The coping strategies these athletes used to deal with stress include mental rehearsal and relaxation techniques. Taken together, the results, suggest a range of responses of these high trait-anxious athletes to competitive stress. Implications of these results for sport practitioners and sport psychology researchers were discussed.