In the 1/4 finals of the 2023 WTT Women's Table Tennis Finals, the match between Chinese table tennis players Chen Xingtong and Wang Manyu. Chen Xingtong defeated Wang Manyu 3-0, and the result of this match caused some controversy. Some spectators criticized Chen Xingtong for his excellent performance mainly in domestic competitions and poor performance in international competitions.
In addition, Wang Manyu may miss the Paris Olympics due to this defeat and may be overtaken by Chen Meng in the world rankings. In the upcoming semi-finals, Chen Meng will face Sun Yingsha, while Wang Yidi will face Zhang Rui.
The Olympic Games, as the world's top sporting event, are a symbol of glory and dreams for athletes. However, this also brings a lot of psychological pressure. Athletes not only have to face stiff competition, but also pressure from the public, the media, and personal expectations. This stress can lead to anxiety, insomnia, decreased self-confidence, and in severe cases, even affect athletes' performance and mental health.
Clear goal setting helps athletes stay focused and motivated. At the same time, managing one's own and others' expectations reasonably and avoiding excessive stress is key to maintaining mental health.
Professional counselling can help athletes deal with stress and anxiety. Counselors can help athletes maintain mental balance through talk therapy, relaxation training, and other methods.
Effective time management and adequate rest are essential for coping with stress. Athletes need to learn to find time to relax and recover between intense training and competition.
The support of coaches and teammates is very important for athletes to cope with stress. Good team communication can help athletes share stress and gain emotional and strategic support.
Mental toughness is an athlete's ability to remain resilient in the face of challenges and adversity. By training in a high-pressure situation, athletes can learn to stay calm and focused under pressure.
A positive mindset is essential to meet challenges. Athletes can enhance their self-confidence and motivation through positive thinking training, review of successful experiences, etc.
Adequate technical and strategic preparation can reduce uncertainty and anxiety for athletes. With detailed match analysis and strategic planning, athletes can face the competition with more confidence.
Maintaining balance in your life and cultivating interests and hobbies outside of sports can help athletes find ways to relax outside of intense training and competition.
Faced with the pressure of Olympic selection, athletes need to adopt a multi-faceted strategy to cope and prepare. Through goal setting, counselling, team support and resilience training, athletes can effectively manage stress and improve their ability to cope with adversity. Not only does this help them perform on the field, but it's also crucial to their overall well-being and career development.
During the Olympic selection process, athletes may face the fear of failure, which may stem from personal expectations, societal pressures or uncertainty about the future. Understanding and accepting failure as part of the growth process is the key to psychological adjustment.
Athletes often have to deal with the evaluation and expectations of the media, fans and the public. Learning to filter and process these outside voices, focusing on one's training and goals, is essential to maintaining mental health.
Athletes need to build a solid sense of self-awareness and self-worth. This relates not only to their identity as athletes, but also to the multiple aspects of them as a whole personality.
Learning Xi and applying emotion management techniques, such as deep breathing, mindfulness meditation and emotion-releasing Xi, can help athletes stay calm in high-pressure situations.
In addition to the support of coaches and teammates, athletes can rely on family, friends, and counselors to build a diverse support network. This social support is essential to alleviate psychological stress and improve resilience to adversity.
Breaking down big, long-term goals into smaller, short-term goals can help athletes pursue progress in a more specific and orderly way, while reducing anxiety caused by distant goals.
Regular self-reflection and Xi from every training session and competition, whether success or failure, is an opportunity to improve yourself and adjust your strategy.
In the face of challenges and stress, it is crucial to develop mental resilience. This means maintaining a positive, flexible mindset in the face of adversity, recovering from challenges and growing.
Athletes should explore and affirm their personal values and life goals, not just in sports, but also in other aspects of personal growth and life.
For athletes, career planning and preparation for transformation are also important psychological growth processes. This includes the exploration of interests and career development outside of a sporting career.
In the process of facing the Olympic selection, athletes not only face technical and physical challenges, but also deep psychological challenges. Through effective coping strategies and mental growth, athletes are able to improve not only their performance on the field, but also their overall growth in other areas of their personal development and life. This growth is not only beneficial for individual athletes, but also has a positive impact on the sporting world and society as a whole.