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Venting

Tennis players smashing rackets, athletes yelling at themselves after an error and the verbal abuse of referees are all examples of athletes venting their anger. We see this type of behaviour in all levels of sport, and it's a fairly common belief amongst athletes that venting your emotions can be beneficial to your performance (even though venting is typically accompanied with negative body language!).

Anecdotal accounts from numerous sportspeople suggest venting emotions helps performance. For example:

Professional tennis player Alexander Zverev (at the time ranked 3rd in the world) broke his racket and in his 4th round loss in the 2018 Australian Open, and in the interview after the match, said that he felt and played better after breaking his racket. This may have been the case, but he still lost the next two games to lose the second set, and then also the third set to lose the match.
Henri Leconte said of fellow professional tennis player John McEnroe (who was well known for his anger tantrums), that if McEnroe got angry you were in trouble, as he would often play better afterwards.
Former U.S. international football player Taylor Twellmen said in a Wall Street Journal article that for teammate Clint Dempsey "to play well, he has to have a chip on his shoulder", which meant Dempsey played his best when he possessed an element of anger.

Does it help performance?

These are just a few of the many anecdotal examples from athletes, and research into the subject shows athletes do tend to believe anger facilitates good performance. Ruiz and Hanin (2011) found that 75% of their participants (karate athletes) believed anger had a positive effect on their performance, and Robazza and Bortoli (2007) also found their majority of participants (rugby players) believed anger was facilitative to their performance.

However, beliefs don't always reflect reality. Even though Ruiz and Hanin (2011) found athletes believed anger was helpful, when they looked at how it affected actual performance, they discovered a different outcome. They had participants rate their levels of anger prior to and during their best and worst performances, and the results showed that anger levels were actually higher before and during their worst performances!

But we must be clear that a display of anger is not necessarily accompanied by negative body language. E.g., anger can be associated with a positive dominant display of body language (e.g. chest thumping). However, venting refers more to the negative display of emotion, e.g., 'head down' tennis racket slamming behaviour.

Individual differences

No doubt there will be individual differences in the type of body language that produces the best performance results, and perhaps venting may be beneficial at certain times for certain people. Science tends to report on what works for the majority of people, not the individual. For example, we can say that a display of positive body language has shown to improve mood, as this is what was found for the majority of people. However, it is of course probably that displaying positive body language may have made no difference to the mood of some people, or made it worse.

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John McEnroe's coach spoke about how he once tried to improve his notorious negative behaviour, but he lost in the first round, and then in the second round of his next two tournaments. Therefore, he told McEnroe to forget about it and just be himself. It is possible that McEnroe performed better with a more emotional display, but McEnroe himself has said he felt that he would have won more matches if he had been better at controlling his emotions.

A study by Lane, Beedie, Devonport, and Stanley (2011) found that 85% of athletes believed that strategies intended to reduce their anxiety before a competition would help their performance. Whereas the remaining 15% believed strategies aimed at increasing their anxiety would help. Assuming both groups are correct in their beliefs, it just illustrates what works for one person may not work for another. Therefore, it is important that you investigate your own zone of optimal functioning.

However, letting go and failing to control your emotions can also have some obvious negative consequences. Here are some costly real-life examples of athletes failing to control their anger:

In the 2019 Saudi International tournament on the European Tour, golfer Sergio Garcia was disqualified for taking his frustration out when he damaged a green with his putter. He was disqualified for serious misconduct.

In the 2006 football World Cup final, French player Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in the Sternum, apparently in reaction to something the Italian player had said. Zidane was sent off. The game ended in a draw. Italy won 5-3 on penalties.

In the second set of the 2018 US Open Women’s Final, Serena Williams was deducted a point for smashing her racket after losing a game. Then a few games later she was docked an entire game for verbal abuse of the umpire. The score at that time was 4-3, with Serena serving to even the set, but with the game deduction, she went on to lose the set 6-4 and the match.

Individual differences

In summary, it's possible that venting may produce a positive effect on performance, but the research suggests that this is unlikely. Perhaps, it may be useful to implement self-discovery strategies (analyse your own performance when using different strategies) to learn which method works best for you!

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