Wax on, wax off, or whatever works for you : on the role of pre-competition emotions in elite karateka

2015

The purpose of the current study aimed to examine the performance related experiences of elite karate athletes prior to a major international competition. The secondary aim was to explore the relationship between athlete and coach performance ratings. Athletes selected emotional and non-emotional words to describe their experiences related to performance. Results indicated that best performance was characterized by high intensities of helpful emotion and non-emotion descriptors, while worst performance was characterized by high intensities of harmful descriptors. Moreover, intensities of emotions and non-emotions during actual good performance neared intensities recalled during best perform…