To Sink or Swim
Performance anxiety, often referred to as nerves, jitters, or the yips is a formidable opponent that plagues athletes often at crucial moments in a game or competition. It’s the pounding heart, sweaty palms, and racing thoughts that can leave even the most skilled athletes feeling overwhelmed. The good news is totally normal and felt by the most elite athletes competing today. Using the right tools performance anxiety can be conquered, allowing athletes to rise to the challenge rather than crumble under the pressure
The Sympathetic Nervous System
Performance anxiety is a common phenomenon among athletes, stemming from the high-pressure situations they frequently encounter. It’s the body’s natural response to preparing for a challenge, but when it escalates, it can undermine an athlete’s ability to perform at their best. This response is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. Symptoms of this system being activated increased heart rate, dilated pupils, clammy hands, and butterflies in the stomach.
Overcoming performance anxiety begins with recognizing that it’s not a rare or negative experience. In fact, in moderate amounts, anxiety pushes athletes to compete at their best. No one competes at their best when bored. The key is to manage it effectively and use it to your advantage. As the saying goes, ‘when you feel butterflies in your stomach, make them fly in formation’.
Re-framing Negative Thoughts
Negative self-talk is often triggers of performance anxiety in athletes. Continuously telling yourself you’re going to mess up or lose can dramatically spike anxiety levels. A pivotal step in conquering performance anxiety is to identify these detrimental thoughts and replace them with positive, confidence-boosting counter-thoughts. If you are thinking about failure so as to avoid it while competing, you often manifest what you are thinking.
For example, instead of thinking, “I’m going to miss this free throw,” try, “I’ve trained hard and I will sink this shot.” Consistent use of positive affirmations can rewire thought patterns and diminish anxiety. It takes some effort to consciously re-frame your automatic thoughts, but changing the language you use to think and react to situations can dramatically lower performance anxiety.
The Power of Preparation
Thorough preparation is one of the most effective ways to conquer performance anxiety in sports. Whether you’re a basketball player, a gymnast, or a golfer, the more you prepare, the more confident you’ll feel. Knowing you’ve put in the work to hone your skills bolsters your self-confidence.
Moreover, practice is your best friend. Rehearsing your moves, tactics, or routines repeatedly not only sharpens your skills but also makes you less susceptible to performance anxiety. Familiarity with the situation reduces anxiety, as you become accustomed to the rigors of competition.
Visualization and Mental Rehearsal
Visualization is an excellent tool in the athlete’s arsenal for combating performance anxiety. An athlete who effectively uses visualization should do so throughout the season and even during the off season. Visualizations and rehearsals should include both the sport specific skills that will be necessary and the competitive factors involved. These factors include visualizing the crowd, noise, pregame routine, and moments before the start of the game.
The goal of visualization is to familiarize and ‘desensitize’ your mind to the heightened situational stress of competition. The more times you can experience a version of the stress involved, while in a non-threatening environment, the less reactive you will be when the big moment comes.
Breathing and Relaxation Techniques
Physical symptoms of performance anxiety, like a racing heart and shallow breathing, can exacerbate the mental effects. Learning deep breathing and relaxation techniques can be incredibly beneficial. Deep, measured breaths calm your nervous system and reduce your heart rate thus calming a racing mind. There are many deep breathing techniques including wave and box breathing, as well as progressive muscle relaxation, body scan, and rooting.
The key with any relaxation technique is consistency. A skilled athlete will practice breathing and relaxing to develop the skill of controlling the physical effects of the sympathetic nervous system far before it is truly needed. Learning to control the performance anxiety can be hugely beneficial in high stress situations.
Embrace Imperfection
No athlete is flawless, and every sport is prone to mishaps and stumbles. Accepting that it’s okay to make mistakes can significantly reduce anxiety. Focus on giving your best effort rather than chasing perfection, and remember that errors can be valuable learning opportunities. In fact, chasing ‘the perfect’ game can lead you to perform rigidly, not allowing for creativity and risk taking.
Seek Professional Guidance
If performance anxiety is severely impacting your athletic career, don’t hesitate to seek help from a mental performance coach. Speaking with a performance professional may help you understand the root causes of performance anxiety and provide you the necessary tools to become the clutch player you were meant to be.
All athletes, whether competing at the Olympics or in their first season ever, have felt some level of competition anxiety during their career. The difference between clutch athletes and those that collapse under the pressure is how they react to it when the time comes. The best athletes in the world train their mind and body to use the anxiety response to perform at their peak in the clutch moments.
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