full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sian Leah Beilock: Why we choke under pressure -- and how to avoid it

Unscramble the Blue Letters

I distinctly rmbeeemr one game in high school. I was playing for the California state team which is part of the Olympic Development Program. I was having a great game ... until I realized that the noaiantl coach was standing right behind me. That's when everything changed. In a matter of sdeocns, I went from playing at the top to the bototm of my ability. Just knowing that I was being evaluated changed my performance and forever how I tohuhgt about the metnal aspect of how we pfrroem. All of a sudden the ball seemed to go in slow motion, and I was fixated on my every move. The next shot that came I bobbled, but thankfully it didn't land in the goal. The shot after that, I wasn't so lucky: I tipped it right into the net. My team lost; the national coach walked away. I ceohkd under the pressure of those evaluative eyes on me.

Open Cloze

I distinctly ________ one game in high school. I was playing for the California state team which is part of the Olympic Development Program. I was having a great game ... until I realized that the ________ coach was standing right behind me. That's when everything changed. In a matter of _______, I went from playing at the top to the ______ of my ability. Just knowing that I was being evaluated changed my performance and forever how I _______ about the ______ aspect of how we _______. All of a sudden the ball seemed to go in slow motion, and I was fixated on my every move. The next shot that came I bobbled, but thankfully it didn't land in the goal. The shot after that, I wasn't so lucky: I tipped it right into the net. My team lost; the national coach walked away. I ______ under the pressure of those evaluative eyes on me.

Solution

  1. seconds
  2. remember
  3. bottom
  4. thought
  5. mental
  6. perform
  7. national
  8. choked

Original Text

I distinctly remember one game in high school. I was playing for the California state team which is part of the Olympic Development Program. I was having a great game ... until I realized that the national coach was standing right behind me. That's when everything changed. In a matter of seconds, I went from playing at the top to the bottom of my ability. Just knowing that I was being evaluated changed my performance and forever how I thought about the mental aspect of how we perform. All of a sudden the ball seemed to go in slow motion, and I was fixated on my every move. The next shot that came I bobbled, but thankfully it didn't land in the goal. The shot after that, I wasn't so lucky: I tipped it right into the net. My team lost; the national coach walked away. I choked under the pressure of those evaluative eyes on me.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
playing field 4
pay attention 3
research team 3
put limits 3
school year 3
high school 2
national coach 2
control aspects 2
neural pain 2
pain response 2
math anxiety 2
kids learn 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
neural pain response 2

Important Words

  1. ability
  2. aspect
  3. ball
  4. bobbled
  5. bottom
  6. california
  7. changed
  8. choked
  9. coach
  10. development
  11. distinctly
  12. evaluated
  13. evaluative
  14. eyes
  15. fixated
  16. game
  17. goal
  18. great
  19. high
  20. knowing
  21. land
  22. matter
  23. mental
  24. motion
  25. move
  26. national
  27. net
  28. olympic
  29. part
  30. perform
  31. performance
  32. playing
  33. pressure
  34. program
  35. realized
  36. remember
  37. school
  38. seconds
  39. shot
  40. slow
  41. standing
  42. state
  43. sudden
  44. team
  45. thankfully
  46. thought
  47. tipped
  48. top
  49. walked