Anxiety In Sports: What Causes Athletes To Develop Anxiety?

Eli Straw
9 min readNov 9, 2021

Pressure and expectations run rampant throughout sports. The culture is embedded in the idea of competition. No matter the level, there are athletes who experience pressure to succeed, either placed on them by other people, themselves, or a combination of both.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love sports, competition, and all the pressure that comes along with it. I have spent years working my way through high school, college, and now professional baseball.

There is little that has provided me with such joy, while simultaneously being the trigger of incredible pain. Sports give us the opportunity to challenge ourselves, learning how to deal with both success and failure.

My experience in sports has taken me on an incredible journey. I’ve met so many wonderful people, traveled to incredible places, and grown personally to heights I never knew imaginable.

But with all the positives that come along with participating in sports, there is also a dark side. An area that accompanies these joys and challenges, often lurking in the shadows until it’s become too large not to notice.

The dark side to sports I am referring to is anxiety, that troublesome state so many of us find ourselves in. Often left wondering, where did my anxiety come from and what caused

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Eli Straw

Mental performance coach and writer. I write about actionable tips you can use to build a strong mind.