The catastrophe theory is a strict version of the inverted U theory. Initially, an athlete is underexcited, meaning he is distracted and unaware of his surroundings. Then they are at their optimal level of arousal, which means they are giving their best. If the athlete became overly excited, there would be a severe decline in performance as they become overly excited at that time. To then try to return to the optimal level, the athlete is overexcited and must underexcite himself again to then reach the optimal level. A sporting example is in football. When they are under-excited, they don't pay attention because they may be distracted by their surroundings. When they are at their optimal arousal level, they perform at their optimal performance level. When the player is overly excited, he has a dramatic decline in performance and is likely to miss an open goal or penalty. Once the athlete is overly excited and the performance level has dramatically dropped, the decrease in performance gradually reduces. To return to the optimal arousal level, they must again under-excite themselves and then return to the optimal arousal level. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) is the last theory I will review. This theory examines the relationship between an athlete's arousal and how it can impact an athlete's performance. Explain that an athlete has a section of optimal performance over a long period of time and is not just a build up to the peak. Comparing this to drive theory, the IZOF has optimal performance sections while drive theory has optimal peak arousal and explains that as arousal levels increase, an athlete's performance also increases. Comparing it to the inverted U theory, it is clear that this is completely different. Where the inverted-U theory sees the excitation at an optimal point, the IZOF theory sees the optimal excitation as a section. Furthermore, the inverted-U theory predicts that each athlete's sweet spot lies at the midpoint of a curve, while IZOF explores that the sweet spot varies from person to person. Comparing this to catastrophe theory, the IZOF explains how athletes have an optimal arousal section; however it does not take into account the "choking" factor. A sports example of the IZOF theory would be with three different types of athletes. Athlete A has a low IZOF, meaning he performs best with low levels of anxiety. This type of athlete tends to be an introvert, meaning they do not actively seek excitement as they have naturally high levels of arousal and no longer need it. They like to be involved in sports with repetition and concentration such as archery and billiards. This is more likely to relate to athletes with an introverted personality type. Athlete B has a moderate IZOF, meaning he performs best with moderate levels of anxiety. They would like a sport like rowing because it is an exciting but very repetitive sport. Athlete C has a high IZOF, meaning he performs best with high levels of anxiety and arousal. This type of athlete tends to be extroverted, meaning it requires a lot of gross motor movements like football and rugby as there is a high level of excitement, it is a team game and it is an exciting, fast paced game. It is most likely referring to an extroverted athlete who seeks excitement and stimulation to ensure they perform at optimal performance levels. Overall, this theory.