See also: Flow
The term ‘zone’ has many different meanings, including in sports (Gershgoren, 2019) . One of the most common uses of this term is to describe a mental state in which an athlete feels comfortable and confident, which is also known as their “comfort zone.” This can be helpful for optimal performance, but it can also lead to playing it too safe and not challenging oneself enough. Coaches often encourage athletes to step out of their comfort zone in order to promote growth and learning (Gershgoren, 2019).
When an athlete is “in the zone,” it means they are in an optimal emotional and mental state that allows them to perform to the best of their ability. This state is characterized by automaticity, supreme confidence, a sense of control, and a loss of self-consciousness (Jackson & Marsh, 1996). On the other hand, being in a “dysfunctional zone” can lead to suboptimal performance because the athlete’s emotional intensity level is either too high or too low. Each athlete has their own unique relationship between their emotional intensity level and their performance, which is known as the Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning model (Hanin, 2000).
To maintain optimal performance, athletes need to be familiar with their individual affect-related performance zones (IAPZ) and have high self-awareness about their current emotional state. They also need to have coping and self-regulation skills to shift back into their “zone” when they find themselves in a dysfunctional state (Katama et al., 2002).
References
Gershgoren, L. (2019). In D. Hackfort, R. J. Schinke, & B. Strauss (Eds.), Dictionary of sport psychology: Sport, exercise, and performing arts. Academic Press, 319.
Hanin, Y. L. (Ed.), (2000). Emotions in sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Jackson, S. A., & Marsh, H. W. (1996). Development and vali- dation of a scale to measure optimal experience: The Flow State Scale. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 18, 1735.
Kamata, A., Tenenbaum, G., & Hanin, Y. L. (2002). Individual zone of optimal functioning (IZOF): A probabilistic estimation. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 24, 189208.
