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Sport-related anxiety: Current insights.
Open accessAbstract
To date, much research has been devoted to understanding how anxiety can affect sport performance, both in practice and in competitive settings. It is well known that sport has the potential for high levels of stress and anxiety, and that practicing and employing a range of psychological strategies can be beneficial in anxiety management. Equally, growing evidence also suggests that anxiety can play a role in sport injury prevention, occurrence, rehabilitation, and the return to sport process. The purpose of this paper is to provide current insights into sport-related anxiety. More specifically, it will provide the reader with definitions and theoretical conceptualizations of sport-related anxiety. This will be followed by making a case for considering the term "performance" to be broader than activities associated with sport-related performance in practice and competition, by including performance activities associated with sport injury prevention, rehabilitation, and the return to sport process. The paper will then highlight the importance of recognizing early signs and symptoms of anxiety, and the potential need for referral. Finally, the conclusions will emphasize the need for appropriate, client-specific, and practitioner competent care for athletes experiencing sport-related anxiety.
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“Importantly, when anxiety is left unchecked it can lead to clinically significant psychological disturbances and be detrimental to athletes’ wellbeing and performance (Ford et al., 2017).”
From Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Psychological Skills Training (PST): a case study (2025) · cites this paper as Ford et al., 2017
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“Performance anxiety is typically viewed as a reaction to the perceived stress of performing under pressure (Ford et al., 2017).”
From Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Psychological Skills Training (PST): a case study (2025) · cites this paper as Ford et al., 2017
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“Competitive anxiety is a common psychological challenge among athletes and can negatively affect sports performance.”
From The Effect of Different Psychological Interventions on Athletes' Competitive Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis. (2026) · cites this paper as [1]
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“These demands are usually stressful, indicating a perceived imbalance between the given demand and their ability to meet the demand (Ford et al., 2017).”
Teams with lower injury rates have greater success in the Currie Cup rugby union competition
Starling, L. T. (2019) · South African Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.17159/2078-516x/2019/v31i1a6401 · Cited by 7
“It has also been found that pre-injured athletes often experience heightened anxiety when reentering the team due to a lack of confidence in the previously injured body part and uncertainty around their return to the preinjury level of performance.[2] An athlete experiencing re-injury anxiety may be hesitant to push a…”
BackgroundThe Impact of Authoritarian Coaching Styles on Athletes’ Anxious States
Hagerty, S., & Felizzi, M. V. (2023) · Sport Social Work Journal · doi:10.33043/sswj.3.1.67-76 · Cited by 7
“Sport social workers can utilize goal setting, relaxation strategies, positive self-talk, and social support to assist athletes in using coping skills and reducing anxiety symptoms (Ford et al., 2017).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialChatel, M., & Williams, J. M. (2020) · Comparative Exercise Physiology · doi:10.3920/cep200035 · Cited by 7
Assessing the anxiety level of a volleyball team
Sopa, I. S. (2021) · Geosport for Society · doi:10.30892/gss.1405-071 · Cited by 7
Effectiveness of Neurolinguistic Programming in Reducing Sport Anxiety in Athletes
Sin, T. H., Fadli, R. P., & Ifdil, I. (2019) · Addictive Disorders & Their Treatment · doi:10.1097/adt.0000000000000180 · Cited by 7
“Sport anxiety is a condition/ nature/response to sport-related situations wherein individuals, especially athletes, feel pressure that results in stress and influences their cognitive activities, individual psychological responses, and passions.(11) Anxiety can occur when an individual’s nerves feel vulnerable and unc…”
BackgroundMiddleton, W. A., Savage, P. D., Khadanga, S., Rengo, J. L., Ades, P. A., & Gaalema, D. E. (2024) · Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention · doi:10.1097/hcr.0000000000000852 · Cited by 6
Machado, S. E. D. C., Sant’Ana, L. D. O., Cid, L., Teixeira, D., Travassos, B., Monteiro, D., & Nardi, A. E. (2025) · Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health · doi:10.2174/0117450179293069250507074009 · Cited by 7
İnan, M., Yıldırım, M., Yazan, K. D., & Kurtuldu, T. (2024) · Akdeniz Spor Bilimleri Dergisi · doi:10.38021/asbid.1444445 · Cited by 6
The Impact of Yoga on Athletes' Mental Well-Being: An Experimental Study
Saraswati, P., Kanujia, S., & Kapri, B. C. (2024) · Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.66044 · Cited by 11
“However, the sport's competitive aspect impacts athletes' emotional health and causes them to fear failure [7,8].”
BackgroundObmiński, Z., Mroczkowska, H., Jagiełło, M., & Litwiniuk, A. (2020) · Physical Education of Students · doi:10.15561/20755279.2020.0601 · Cited by 6
“After the rehabilitation period, the fear of renewing a past injury delays return to sport, and also has a negative impact on the level of performance of sports tasks [27, 28].”
BackgroundXia, Y., & Shimomura, Y. (2022) · Ergonomics · doi:10.1080/00140139.2022.2087908 · Cited by 6
“…neutral environment, passive whole-body heating causes an increase in skin temperature and core body temperature, which can lead to sweating (Gaoua 2010), thermal discomfort (Robin et al. 2019), unpleasantness (Coudevylle et al. 2019) and a deterioration of cortical activity (Gaoua et al.…”
BackgroundCross, K., Batey, M., Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., & Powell, D. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0308281 · Cited by 5
“Explicitly, sport-related anxiety can adversely impact performance (i.e., training, practice, and competitions) and injury susceptibility (i.e., risk, recovery, and reinjury) [39].”
BackgroundInfluence of regular climbing on depression, generalized anxiety and lower back pain
Zieliński, G., Zięba, E., Wilkowicz, W., Byś, A., Ginszt, M., Libera, O., Zawadka, M., Saran, T., & Gawda, P. (2020) · Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine · doi:10.26444/aaem/124189 · Cited by 5
“rehabilitation and return to the training process, as well as increase risk of repeated injury during exercises and competitions after rehabilitation [10].”
BackgroundNeves, Â. N., Zanetti, M. C., Almeida, J., Mainenti, M. R. M., & Vigário, P. D. S. (2022) · European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity · doi:10.5507/euj.2021.011 · Cited by 6
Budden, T., Dimmock, J. A., Rosenberg, M., Beauchamp, M. R., Fitzpatrick, I., & Jackson, B. (2022) · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1123/jsep.2021-0165 · Cited by 5
Biofeedback in sport and education
Liparoti, M., & Lopez, E. T. (2021) · Winter Conferences of Sports Science · doi:10.14198/jhse.2021.16.proc3.09 · Cited by 6
“Anxiety, stress, fear and many other emotions play a fundamental role in altering the inputs received by the human body, with the risk of affecting the athlete's performance (Ford et al., 2017).”
BackgroundLi, L., Wang, J., Li, Q., & Fu, Q. (2026) · Sports Medicine - Open · doi:10.1186/s40798-026-01007-y · Cited by 5
“A substantial body of evidence indicates that both cognitive and somatic anxiety can divert attention from task-relevant cues, impair athletic performance, and increase injury risk [1, 8, 9].”
Özcan, B., Çelikel, B. E., Erdoğan, R., Karadağ, M., AYDOĞDU, V., UĞURLU, F. M., Bozkurt, E., Turan, M., Koçal, M., & Orhan, S. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1693298 · Cited by 4
Operating under pressure: A scoping review on stress, anxiety, and coping in sport officials
Vargas, M. L. F. P., Cunningham, I., Mascarenhas, D. R. D., Sullivan, P., Holden, M. N., Carter, T. B., & Hancock, D. J. (2025) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103057 · Cited by 4
Teh, R., & Krishnan-Vasanthi, R. (2022) · Journal of Sport and Health Research · doi:10.58727/jshr.96641 · Cited by 4
Raboin, S. (2024) · Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity · doi:10.1515/jirspa-2024-0006 · Cited by 6
“The Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) model [115] focuses on fi ve dimensions, including form, content, intensity, time, and context, by which emphasis is placed on the importance of emotion-performance relationships [117].”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialDsouza, M. P., Shetty, A., Shwetha, T. S., Damodar, P., Pai, A. A., Mathias, R. J., D’Souza, S. E., & Lewis, N. T. (2024) · International Journal of Adolescence and Youth · doi:10.1080/02673843.2024.2388787 · Cited by 4
“While evidence in sports and musical performances suggests that a certain amount of state anxiety may be beneficial for peak performance (e.g. Ford et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2019; Osborne et al., 2020), other authors have demonstrated that higher levels of state anxiety can negatively impact young…”
Korkutata, A., Halis, M., & Bolel, B. (2024) · International Journal of Sport Exercise & Training Sciences · doi:10.18826/useeabd.1532962 · Cited by 4
Amini, A. H., & VaezMousavi, M. (2021) · The Neuroscience Journal of Shefaye Khatam · doi:10.52547/shefa.9.4.81 · Cited by 4
Precompetitive anxiety profiles in runners: Differences in the running motives
Andreu, J. M. P., & González‐García, H. (2022) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2022.2119395 · Cited by 4
“10 Anxiety can be analyzed as a personality trait, or as a consequence of the environmental context that surrounds the athlete’s behavior at a specific moment (state anxiety).”
Mahajon, B., Ramamurthy, A., Nath, R., Gautam, M., Das, N., & Roy, P. (2023) · Toxicology International · doi:10.18311/ti/2022/v29i4/30296 · Cited by 4
The Correlation of Participation to Sport, Social Self-efficacy and Social Anxiety in Adolescents
Yıldırım, T., KOÇAK, Ç. V., & Parlakyıldız, S. (2024) · International Journal of Education in Mathematics Science and Technology · doi:10.46328/ijemst.3950 · Cited by 9
“On the other hand, Ford et al. (2017) and Sultan (2022) concluded in their research on adolescents that athletes have less anxiety and anxiety about social situations than non-athletes.”
BackgroundKhojastefar, M., Selk-Ghaffari, M., Memari, A. H., Halabchi, F., & Barghi, T. S. (2021) · Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies · doi:10.51507/j.jams.2021.14.4.149 · Cited by 4
“The strategies to manage competitive anxiety are a critical part of sports medicine [3].”
InfluentialWood, S., & Turner, M. J. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1617548 · Cited by 3
Physical exercise and Alexithymia: risk or benefit?
Liparoti, M. (2022) · Form re - Open Journal per la formazione in rete · doi:10.36253/form-13633 · Cited by 3
Anxiety as a psychological factor in futsal athlete performance
Putra, A. A., & Pratama, R. S. (2025) · Sriwijaya Journal of Sport · doi:10.55379/sjs.v4i3.104 · Cited by 3
Metadata
- Authors
- Ford, J., Ildefonso, K., Jones, M., & Arvinen-Barrow, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (US)
- Venue
- Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-10
- Volume
- Volume 8
- Pages
- 205-212
- ISSN
- 1179-1543 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5667788
- OpenAlex
- W2765469520
- Cited by
- 231
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 14.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Dove Medical Press (Taylor and Francis Group) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- anxiety reduction, athletic performance, sports injury prevention, sports injury rehabilitation, return to sport, psychological strategies, athlete care
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