Sports Anxiety is that dreaded state experienced by every athlete at one time or another.  The pain of losing because of one’s own mindset is perhaps the most frustrating loss of all.

Let’s uncover some of the mystery behind sports anxiety and create a plan for peak performance under any pressure.  If you are an athlete with mindset mastery, than you will find almost nothing is impossible for you.

What is it anyway?

Sports anxiety is simply mind-body state that is marked by uneasiness, fear or worry.  It is usually a conditioned response to a stimulus.

Why does it occur?

Technically, your brain is processing a stimulus such as a thought, memory or experience and giving meaning to it, based on all it’s known before.  In response to this meaning your hypothalamus releases certain chemicals which your body feels as emotion.

Bottom line:  It doesn’t mean anything!  It just is.

This is great news for the mentally coach-able athlete. What it means to you is that you can program yourself to respond in an empowering way to any stressful trigger.

Key 1:

Prepare for the pressure

Studies show that the athlete’s self image is the biggest determiner in how he/she processes pressure. For athletes who are convinced of their ability to win, the stimulus provides exciting opportunity.
For athletes who doubt themselves, the same triggers create distress and anxiety.

Just like practicing a fire drill in times of peace saves lives under pressure, your mental drills will save your career when the pressure is on.

So, the best athletes prepare by strengthening their self image through three activators:
1.     their imagination – seeing themselves perform perfectly
2.     their words – speaking positively to themselves, “I am tougher than I’ve ever been.”
3.    their ability to relax or hype up their body (arousal control)

In future articles I will go in to greater detail about each area, but for now this is great start to preparing for the pressure.

Key 2:

Practice Consistently

Many athletes don’t consistently practice mental conditioning for their sport.  Instead they try to wait till the last minute to try to focus and reach a new level of performance.  This lack of discipline often results in sports anxiety when they face an old stressor.

Again this is great news for the mentally coachable athlete, because it gives a massive advantage during competition.

Try to practice visualization and relaxation at least 20 -60 minutes each day around your sport.  When it comes to your self-talk, speak consistently all of the time.  This would be something you do silently, as most people around you don’t want to hear how great you are as much as they want to see it!

Key 3:

Prevail Under Pressure

When you prepare for pressure and practice consistently, then ultimately you will prevail at game time. This is how you overcome sports anxiety and enjoy peak performance. How this looks to you brings you full circle, because you want to prepare with the end in mind.  This means having a very clear idea from the outset of what the victory means for you.

Remember that you prevail and win by focusing on the things you can control, as opposed to the things you can’t. Practice every imaginable scenario, and know how you would choose to respond.  It helps to have a role model to emulate, to shorten your own learning curve.  Watch someone who controls their attitude and form.

So the next time you feel your game disrupted through sports anxiety, use it as a trigger to enter the winning state of mind – the place of Flow.

Hundreds of athletes are enjoying their peak performance by using the revolutionary Flow On Demand technique to overcome sports anxiety.

About the author:  Gina Parris is an internationally sought-after peak performance coach who helps athletes win more consistently. She does this by teaching them practical and innovative ways to master their sports psychology to overcome anxiety and play at their peak under any pressure.  You can get her seven- day Mental Mastery Course  and E-zine for free at Built to Win Coaching.

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Tags: mindset mastery, peak performance, sports anxiety

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 7:35 pm and is filed under sports anxiety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.