Assessing competition and stress: The perceived effect of tournament atmosphere on students and coaches

A persistent and salient concern of forensic educators is the recruitment and retention of students and coaches to engage in competitive forensic events. However, while providing opportunities for students to demonstrate their communicative and interpretive skills, the tournament setting may not afford students (or their coaches, for that matter) a choice regarding the kinds of healthful behaviors they might normally seek to demonstrate. In a survey discussed later in this article, one respondent provided a poignant description of forensic competition: "Try waking up at 6 a.m., having gone to bed at 2 a.m., pour battery acid down your gullet and then try to stay awake watching Lawrence Welk—that's forensics." Although this remark may be a bit extreme, the forensic tournament environment may exact a physical and mental toll from participants. Little research has been conducted regarding health issues in the forensic tournament environment. A study by Hatfield, Hatfield, and Carver (1989) on this subject, however, has proven to be insightful. They described wellness as an integration of social, physical, intellectual, career, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and revealed through a narrative review of selected tournaments, violations of wellness standards in the forensic tournament environment. The findings of their study, presented at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events, resulted in the Tournament Management Practices Division of that conference proposing four recommendations: 1. To create a shared vision of what a tournament experience should include for healthy competition (i.e., well scheduled, well managed). 2. To enhance awareness of the stressful nature of forensic tournaments and provide guidance through information for stress reduction and management. 3. To provide information to the forensic community on the wellness approach to forensics by having all national organizations promote programs on that orientation. 4. To encourage tournament hosts to analyze and meet the need of the forensic community even if it places more demands on the host, (p.32)