Every two years, thousands of the best athletes in the world gather for the Olympic games and millions more tune in to watch them. While the intrigue of watching the best in the world compete is undeniable, it is the stories of certain athletes that create the biggest headlines. During the Olympics there are always stories of those with an uncanny ability to adapt and overcome in the face of seemingly impossible odds. In Pyeongchang there is no better example of this than twenty four year old snowboarder Mark McMorris. Only eleven months prior to the games he nearly died in a snowboarding accident and he not only managed to compete, but win a bronze medal. When he woke up from his medically induced coma after the accident in March 2017, one
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The Sport Competitive Anxiety Test, or SCAT, is made up of ten questions that when answered on a three point scale, determine their approximate level of anxiety. While McMorris has been in unique situations that surely made him anxious, outside of those he seems to be rather unaffected by it. Prior to the Sochi games when recovering from a broken rib when his recovery seems to stagnate, McMorris is devastated at the idea of missing the Olympics. And even if he were to physically compete, he would have a serious handicap in not being able to preview the course before the event. Despite all the negative self-talk, he does his best to dismiss such thoughts and focus on the rehab (McMorris 2015 para 10). An excellent example of McMorris’s low competitive anxiety is how he describes his final run that ultimately won him the bronze: “Going down the hill, everything went away- the pain, pressure to win, the agony of the past 15 days. I was flying down the slope...going back to what I love most about snowboarding-just having fun.” (McMorris 2015 para 14). In the midst of overcoming what was at the time, one of the biggest mental hurdles and high pressure situations of his career, he simply let go of all the external and internal pressures and in doing so enabled him to
The Sport Competitive Anxiety Test, or SCAT, is made up of ten questions that when answered on a three point scale, determine their approximate level of anxiety. While McMorris has been in unique situations that surely made him anxious, outside of those he seems to be rather unaffected by it. Prior to the Sochi games when recovering from a broken rib when his recovery seems to stagnate, McMorris is devastated at the idea of missing the Olympics. And even if he were to physically compete, he would have a serious handicap in not being able to preview the course before the event. Despite all the negative self-talk, he does his best to dismiss such thoughts and focus on the rehab (McMorris 2015 para 10). An excellent example of McMorris’s low competitive anxiety is how he describes his final run that ultimately won him the bronze: “Going down the hill, everything went away- the pain, pressure to win, the agony of the past 15 days. I was flying down the slope...going back to what I love most about snowboarding-just having fun.” (McMorris 2015 para 14). In the midst of overcoming what was at the time, one of the biggest mental hurdles and high pressure situations of his career, he simply let go of all the external and internal pressures and in doing so enabled him to