This great video illustrates the importance of not giving up in sports and life in general. Indeed, this video represents an excellent approach to reacting to stressful situations and is an example of "increasing effort," as defined by Gaudreau and Blondin (2002). A meta-analysis by Nicholls et al. (2016) examined the relationship between sporting performance and coping from a variety of different sports and among athletes who compete at different levels, ranging from club to professional athletes. The results of this study revealed that:✅ Coping was associated with sports performance across the 18 studies. ✅ Mastery coping (i.e., attempts to control and thus eliminate the stressor) was positively associated with sports performance. ✅ Goal-withdrawal coping strategies (i.e., ceasing efforts to achieve one’s goal and referring to giving) were negatively associated with performance.✅ Internal regulation coping strategies (i.e., accepting a negative outcome) were not associated with performance. In this instance, the player could have engaged in goal withdrawal and essentially stopped trying to catch up with the player. Still, instead, he engaged in mastery-coping by not giving up and trying to master the situation by getting back to tackle the player, before claiming the ball.Some coaches and players might think that all players would adopt this type of approach to coping, but that is not the case. I have conducted several studies with professional rugby union players. They reported instances where they engaged in goal withdrawal strategies or internal regulation strategies and stopped trying during matches because they perceived the match was lost. I believe that increasing awareness of behaviours under pressure is important and then offering guidance on different coping strategies that can be used. Credit: ESPN