If you’re a competitive athlete, you know what it is to choke. Double faulting on match point. Missing a layup in the final seconds. Sending a penalty kick over the crossbar.
But when is an error a choke and when it is, OMG, just human error? After all, Michael Jordan often notes that he missed many times when assigned to take the game-winning basket.
Click to read a great article that gives a different frame for looking at choking – at least it did for me. Written by Noah Gentner, a Canadian sports psychologist, it points out that choking is defined by the outcome: losing. Well, yeah, I never heard of someone being accused of choking because s/he won.
Because choking is always equated with failure to win, it makes it hard to differentiate many times from simple human imperfection. Most competitors can recognize when they lost because their opponent was superior, at least that day. Much harder to recognize is whether losing is due to your own failure -- an off day, poor conditioning, choking, whatever.
Gentner argues that choking is a result of poor preparation, and he gives several tips for how to condition yourself mentally so that you don't choke when the big game comes.
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