Ask ten athletes how they feel moments before their biggest competitions, and you might hear similar descriptions. Their hearts are racing. Pace of breathing might pick up. Their palms are sweaty (knees weak? arms heavy?). With headphones in, their eyes might dart around the room as they tap their toes.
Physiologically, these athletes may be experiencing nearly identical levels of arousal. Psychologically, however, they may be living in entirely different worlds. One athlete interprets these sensations as excitement. Another interprets them as fear.
This distinction lies at the heart of Reversal Theory, a psychological theory originally developed by Michael J. Apter (1982). The theory was later adapted and applied extensively to athletic performance by sport psychologist John H. Kerr (1997). Rather than asking how much arousal an athlete experiences, Reversal Theory proposes that the more important question is how that arousal is interpreted. Physiological activation is not inherently positive or negative. Instead, performance depends largely on whether athletes perceive those sensations as energizing excitement or debilitating anxiety.
This represented a significant shift in sport psychology. Earlier theories focused primarily on finding the “right” amount of arousal for optimal performance. Apter’s framework suggested something different. The same racing heart, elevated breathing, and surge of adrenaline can either enhance or impair performance depending on the athlete’s complimentary psychological state.
In other words, pressure itself is not always a problem. Sometimes it is our interpretation of pressure.
One of the most important ideas within Reversal Theory is that these interpretations are not fixed. Athletes do not simply begin competition feeling confident or anxious and remain that way throughout the event. Instead, psychological states can reverse, often within seconds. Reversal Theory proposes that athletes move between different motivational states throughout competition. In one state, high arousal feels energizing and exciting. In another, the same physiological sensations feel threatening and anxiety-provoking. These shifts, or “reversals,” can occur rapidly, sometimes after a single mistake, a successful play, or an unexpected event.
An athlete may enter a game energized and confident, only to commit an early turnover that suddenly changes excitement into anxiety. It’s the difference between “let’s go” and “oh no” – the shift can happen quickly. Conversely, an athlete who begins nervously may make one successful play and immediately begin experiencing that same physiological arousal as confidence and momentum.
According to Kerr (1997), these shifts are often triggered by meaningful events such as a mistake, a favorable bounce, an official’s call, encouragement from a teammate, or a successful execution. The physiological arousal may change very little. What changes is the athlete’s underlying psychological state.
The Implication for Coaches
Coaches have historically fallen into two categories: the ones who help athletes “calm down” before competition, and the ones who become experts at “hyping up” their athletes. Relaxation and motivation techniques certainly have value, but it’s not an either or… it is an “it depends” skillset.
Though many coaches want to help an athlete calm down, many athletes perform exceptionally well while highly excited. The challenge is helping them experience that heightened state as readiness rather than danger.
This perspective aligns closely with decades of research on cognitive appraisal. Lazarus (1991) argued that individuals constantly evaluate whether situations represent threats or challenges. Challenge appraisals tend to produce adaptive emotional and physiological responses, whereas threat appraisals often narrow attention, increase worry, and impair performance. Although developed independently, appraisal theory and Reversal Theory share an important assumption: our psychological relationship to arousal often matters more than the arousal itself.
For athletes, this means mental skills should not be viewed as tools used only before competition begins. They are ongoing performance skills. A basketball player who misses two early shots has an opportunity to shift their state before the next possession. A golfer who finds the rough on the opening hole can decide whether the mistake defines the round or simply becomes one shot among many. A sprinter who experiences pre-race nerves can come to experience those sensations as evidence that their body is preparing to compete rather than signaling impending failure.
This is one reason self-talk has become such an important component of modern sport psychology.
Research consistently demonstrates that instructional and motivational self-talk can improve both motor performance and confidence while helping athletes regulate emotional responses under pressure (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2011). From the perspective of Reversal Theory, self-talk becomes much more than positive thinking. It serves as one mechanism athletes use to encourage a shift out of an anxious state and into one where high arousal is experienced as exciting rather than threatening.
Usable Examples of Self-Talk
Instead of saying, “I’m nervous,” an athlete may tell themselves, “I’m ready.”
Instead of thinking, “Don’t mess this up,” they might think, “Trust your training.”
A tennis player facing match point against them might notice their hands shaking and think, “I’m choking.” Reframed: “My body is locked in — this is exactly the intensity I trained for.”
A pitcher who just gave up a home run might spiral into “I’m tired; I’m losing my stuff tonight.” A reversal-oriented cue instead treats the next batter as a clean slate: “One pitch. Trust the grip.”
A gymnast about to mount the balance beam after a shaky warm-up might default to “Don’t fall.” They can shift the internal language to “Stick the landing, like always.”
The physiological sensations remain remarkably similar, but the state changes. That change can alter attention, confidence, decision-making, and ultimately performance.
Elite athletes often demonstrate this ability without consciously labeling it as Reversal Theory. Their routines, breathing strategies, cue words, and between-play rituals are frequently designed to prevent an anxious state from taking hold after an unexpected setback.
3 Olympic Examples
During the 2008 Olympic Games, Michael Phelps encountered a potentially disastrous situation during the 200-meter butterfly final when his goggles filled completely with water early in the race. By the closing laps, he could not see the lane markings or the wall. Rather than allowing the unexpected event to become catastrophic, Phelps relied on a race plan he had mentally rehearsed countless times. He counted his strokes, trusted his preparation, and maintained his execution despite swimming essentially blind. He won the race and set a world record. The obstacle could easily have shifted excitement into panic. Instead, his composure remained one of confidence and control (Phelps & Abrahamson, 2008).
A second example occurred during the 2018 Winter Olympics. Snowboarder Shaun White entered his final halfpipe run trailing Japan’s Ayumu Hirano after Hirano delivered an exceptional performance. The situation instantly elevated the stakes. White knew that one final run would determine whether he won another Olympic gold medal or left without it. Rather than allowing the pressure to become debilitating anxiety, White embraced the opportunity, delivered a near-perfect run, and earned the highest score of the competition. His physiological arousal undoubtedly increased after Hirano’s performance. What mattered was his ability to experience that moment as an opportunity rather than a threat.
A third example comes from Mikaela Shiffrin during the 2022 Beijing Olympics. After unexpectedly skiing out of both the giant slalom and slalom, two of her strongest events, Shiffrin openly discussed the emotional challenge of continuing to compete after such disappointing results. Her public reflections suggest an athlete continually resetting after disappointment, illustrating how competitors can move from viewing pressure as overwhelming to approaching the next performance with renewed engagement. Her experience points to one of Reversal Theory’s central ideas: psychological states are fluid, and athletes can learn to shift out of them even after significant adversity.
Fluid, changing, changeable – that, perhaps, is the most encouraging lesson Reversal Theory offers.
Confidence is not always something athletes possess before competition begins. Often, it is something they repeatedly reconstruct throughout competition. Every mistake presents a choice. Every unexpected event presents another opportunity to shift. There is the objective truth of what happens (limited control), and the filter though which the athlete interprets the event (which can be controlled).
The best competitors are not those who experience the least pressure. More often, they are the ones who become skilled at changing their relationship to that pressure. Never lose the reins on personal agency. You got this.
References
Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Zourbanos, N., Galanis, E., & Theodorakis, Y. (2011). Self-talk and sports performance: A meta-analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(4), 348-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691611413136
Apter, M. J. (1982). The experience of motivation: The theory of psychological reversals. Academic Press.
Kerr, J. H. (1997). Motivation and emotion in sport: Reversal theory. Psychology Press.
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. Oxford University Press.
Phelps, M., & Abrahamson, A. (2008). No limits: The will to succeed. Free Press.