The first in a series of interactive athlete workshops at the World Aquatics Championships has been held as a major emphasis is placed on athlete health and development at Doha 2024.
British open water swimmer Amber Keegan and Jamaican swimmer Alia Atkinson were the keynote speakers at the first Athletes Workshop of the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024, with the workshops now becoming a core part of the World Championships program as a spotlight is shone on the importance of athlete development and mental health.
The first workshop on ‘how to manage emotion before and during competition’ saw athletes from a number of federations run through a series of interactive presentations on understanding, recognising and dealing with emotions.
Atkinson drew on her experience as a five-time Olympian and four-time World Swimming Championships (25m) gold medallist to share strategies she used throughout a 27-year swimming career to deal with her emotions and expectations.
“After I retired and had time to look back on my career and the core emotions that I had to deal with it was definitely fear that was driving everything else,” Atkinson told the group.
“And it wasn’t fear of competition it was actually a fear of everything else.”
“The fear of expectations, fear of not producing results, fear about not succeeding – things that actually wouldn’t make much sense. It was fear driven by irrational thoughts about what people thought, from spectators, to officials, even basket handlers.”
The athletes in attendance discussed with Keegan and Atkinson the predominant emotions they experience when competing, with some of the key emotions being fear, emotion, nervousness and stress. Similar themes were also discussed when athletes shared what they feel they need the most help with being stress, anxiety, doubt, nerves and expectations.
Keegan spoke to her own experience as a current open water swimmer and the methods she has used throughout her career to manage her own emotions as an elite international athlete.
“The emotions and methods will be different for each athlete, some will work for some and be completely useless for others,” Keegan told the group.
“A lot of these things will be trial and error and we have to reflect on these things over time. They won’t just happen instantly.”
“You won’t go from fearful to fearless overnight. It’s not that simple. But it comes with practice and conscious practice. It might be using an app, a training log, a diary, or something that gives you the prompts and helps you adjust the tools to develop something that works for you."
The Athlete Workshops of the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024 continue throughout the seventeen days of competition as athlete health and development is put at the forefront of the Championships experience.