2 The art of performing under pressure

There are times in our lives when we all have to face performing under pressure, for example, an exam, a presentation, an interview or an intimidating social event. Dave Alred (elite performance coach to Rugby World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson, as well as top golfers) has identified a range of strategies that he uses in his coaching. In addition to refining people’s technique, Dave Alred works with:

• posture and body language
• imagery
• designing practices with pressure (covered in Session 7)
• trigger phrases.

Figure 1 Dave Alred

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This is an image of Dave Alred.

Figure 1 Dave Alred

You will cover trigger phrases as part of self-talk later in this session, but the purpose of introducing you to Dave Alred now is to allow you to read an article about him on OpenLearn: The art of performing under pressure [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

In the next section, you will consider some of the things he talks about in a little more detail: fear, anxiety, emotions, routines and self-talk.