Does the Media Impact Athletic Performance?
Jack Lano
Sports can be considered life for many individuals all around the world. As this activity can provide enjoyment, competition, and also entertainment. When regarding higher levels of athletics, such as collegiate or professional sports. Professional sports are watched, and followed by millions of people daily. One way to provide information and news about these sports is through the media. Obviously media within sports is a crucial part of how information and news is shared or provided, but beneath the surface there can be many cons about the media. Whether it is how information is presented, or how the information can be skewed. The media can potentially hinder athletes ' anxiety levels, cause stress, and mood changes. These are just a few things that can impact performance. There is a huge mental side of sports and there is a saying, “sports are 10% physical, and 90% mental”. Within my blog I will cover some potential impacts media can have, as well as how these can hinder an athlete's ability to perform well.
I want to explain a couple of the terms (media, arousal, stress, anxiety, and mood) used within the blog , so there can be a clear-cut definition for each word. “Media: individuals who publicly report statements regarding an athlete’s performance, Arousal: state of alertness within the body before action, Stress: state that results from the demands that are placed on the individual which require that person to engage in some coping behavior, Mood: a group of persistent feelings associated with evaluative and cognitive states which influence all the future evals, feelings, and actions” (Ott, Puymbroeck).
Sports are hard, and an athlete's ability to maintain consistency throughout a game is difficult. Athletes can go through streaks of being unsuccessful. Whether it is being in a hitting slump, or missing a couple shots within a game. These can alter the mindset and attitude of an athlete. How this can relate to the media is simple. A baseball player goes “0-4” in the game and begins to enter a big slump of going hitless in a span of 4 games. The media is going to present these statistics and outcomes of that player to people. This can cause an athlete to over think. Within the article it stated, “In general, The Multidimensional Anxiety Theory hypothesizes that as cognitive anxiety increases, athletic performance decreases. Also, it concludes that an inverted-U relationship (illustrates relationship between pressure and performance) explains the correlation between somatic anxiety and athletic performance. This inverted-U relationship illustrates that as somatic anxiety increases from low to moderate levels, there is an associated improvement in performance. Performance level decreases, however, once intensity levels either exceed or fall below this moderate range” (Ott, Puymbroeck). In general, anxiety can be detrimental to an athlete's mindset. It can shift an athlete's mind into a negative atmosphere mentally. When someone is in this state of mind, it can impact them when they perform. Whether it is over-thinking, having negative thoughts or just feeling drained. These factors can decrease an athlete's ability to succeed and perform in sports.
Sports can be complicated, athletes are expected to think fast and make decisions on the fly. For example, when a baseball player gets a hard ground ball hit to him, he must “complete necessary cognitive functions quickly in order to catch the pass” (Ott, Puymbroeck). “According to a model created by A.F. Sanders, one entity that may affect one’s cognitive functions is arousal level. If the basketball player exhibits a low level of arousal, his or her perception declines. However, the player’s perception is sped up with a high level of arousal. When the arousal level is too high, though, perception becomes less efficient” (Ott, Puymbroeck). To add to this, stress usually occurs when someone fails. When focusing on the mistake for too long or hard, it can often lead to disengagement and losing focus, resulting in another subsequent failure to complete a task.
Another major factor that can affect an athlete's success is mood. I know for me, when I am not in a good mood, I am more reluctant and less engaged. I do not work as hard or have a good attitude. This is the same for many other athletes. Within another study, “Lane and Terry (2000) created a conceptual model of mood and performance. In this model, the authors focus on mood during pre-competition and its effects on subsequent performance. It is suggested that a pre-competitive mood influences athletic behavior. Depressed mood, specifically, acts as a catalyst for reduced vigor, increased anger, confusion, fatigue, and tension, thereby debilitating performance” (Ott, Puymbroeck). When you're not in the right headspace or frame of mind it can seriously mess up your ability to think positively and perform at a high level. How this can tie into the media is, an article is released on you. You're a professional football player who allowed the man you covered to score 3 touchdowns in a game. Within the article created by the media, they criticized and questioned if the second string should take your spot. Your ability and skills within football were not only attacked but your name was spread to millions of people. This can be detrimental to your mind. This can upset you and cause you to have a negative mindset. Though the media's attention is not to upset you, they are just doing their job. I think these examples perfectly show how the media can hinder an athlete's mood.
Many athletes are talked about daily on podcasts and other media platforms. Whether they are successful or failing their performance is publicized and anatomised. I read a quote by Howard Ferguson that I feel speaks volumes. He said, “Criticism can be easily avoided by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. Mediocre people play it safe and avoid criticism at all costs. Champions risk criticism every time they perform” (Ott, Puymbroeck). No one strives to be average, atleast I do not. Most athletes who play at the highest level want to be great. And with being great comes many cameras, and articles tied to their name.
In conclusion, performing well is so much more than just playing. There are many other factors that come into play. With that being said, the media is a great way to get information to the public. Though the public eye doesn't think much about any of the information given deeply. People should take into consideration how the media can impact and alter the athletes mental state. The media can distract athletes and make them think about things that aren't important. The examples and facts stated above support and acknowledge how the media impacts athletes and their performance.
Works Cited
Bhandari, Tamara. “Mind-Body Connection Is Built into Brain, Study Suggests.” Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, 20 Apr. 2023, medicine.wustl.edu/news/mind-body-connection-is-built-into-brain-study-suggests/.
Ott, Kyle, and Marieke Van Puymbroeck. “Does the Media Impact Athletic Performance?” The Sport Journal, 18 Apr. 2017, thesportjournal.org/article/does-the-media-impact-athletic-performance/.
