Help Your Athlete Manage Their Nerves: Part 1

Competitions, performances, games or matches give rise to different feelings, thoughts and physical sensations. Let’s face it: these experiences are pressure packed and our athletes have to learn how to perform under pressure.  The competitive pressure is what makes it different than practice.  So, what can we do to help our athletes manage their nerves?

1.  Normalize the feelings of pre-performance jitters or anxiety.  Simply letting our athletes know that it’s natural to have sweaty palms, muscle tension, rapid heartbeat, or butterflies in the stomach is the first step to learning how to manage them. The goal isn’t to get rid of the nerves so refrain from saying, “Don’t be nervous.” Instead help them learn how to use the nerves to their benefit.
2. Shift to a challenge mindset.  Oftentimes, our athletes interpret the nerves as a sign of impending failure and it activates the threat response. They experience these sensations and recall a previous time when they felt similarly and things didn’t go well. Now they expect the same outcome. So, after we reassure them the nerves are normal, let’s go one step further and help them reframe these sensations and shift to a challenge mindset. 
3. Help facilitate the shift from threat to challenge mindset. Tell them the heart is beating fast to send more energy to meet the physical challenges and that it’s the body’s way of getting psyched for the challenge.  It is also letting you know that what you are attempting to do, matters to you. Also let them know this is an exciting time to showcase their hard work. Remind your athlete of their preparation and training, past success in similar situations, their confidence resume and all the people who support and love them unconditionally.
4. Help them to focus their energy on what they can control.  Control the controllable is a powerful mantra. Worrying about the outcome, what others will think, or what the judges will do are just some of what is “uncontrollable.” The things that matter the most to their performance is within their control: attitude, effort, preparation, focus, breathing, emotional regulation, mindset, confidence etc. A good exercise is to have them list the controllable and uncontrollable on paper so it is clear for them to see. 
5. Regulate their emotions. When feeling the sensations of sweaty palms or rapid heartbeat, remind them they can use their breath to get to their optimal performance zone.  If they are over-excited then they can use their breath to come down a few notches.  If someone is under-excited, they may like to vigorously move around or play uplifting music to bring them into their optimal zone of functioning.  The goal is to read the body’s signals and take action to get to where they perform their best.  Some may need quiet time alone, or others may like to talk to others to distract themselves. Help your athlete discover what works best for them. This requires self-awareness but you can help by pointing out the times when they performed well and identifying the actions they took to be in their optimal zone.  The same can be done for less successful performances to uncover what doesn’t work. 

In Part 2, we’ll talk about specific tips for coaches.