Sports performance anxiety is not an uncommon experience. At one point or another, most athletes experience anxiety before or during a competitive event; however, many feel helpless to overcome it.
Though you cannot prevent “nerves,” you can learn to manage your competitive anxiety. When you know you can manage or lessen anxiety, you will feel more confident about performing at your peak.
Why Athletes Feel Anxious
Simply put, athletes experience anxiety due to some perceived threat. Now, I’m not talking about being attacked by a pack of wolves, but a threat to your “ego.” Ego is defined as your self-esteem, self-worth, or self-importance. A threat to your ego can be the fear of losing, being embarrassed, letting down others, suffering an injury, losing your spot in a lineup, being judged by others, etc. In essence, the fear of some unfavourable result that may happen in the future fuels anxiety and creates feelings of helplessness.
Understanding how you experience anxiety and recognising the initial symptoms is crucial in managing anxiety.
Signs of Anxiety
Anxiety is a personal experience. Duration and intensity of symptoms vary among athletes. Recognizing your anxiety symptoms can serve as an early warning detection system.
The following are common anxiety symptoms:
Heart Rate and Breathing
The most common symptoms of anxious athletes are increased heart rate and respiration. Understanding the relationship between heart rate, breathing, and anxiety is a crucial step to reeling in your anxiety.
Let’s simplify this process. Heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute. An adult’s average resting heart rate is generally between 60 and 100 beats per minute. However, well-trained athletes have lower resting heart rates.
When you perform strenuous exercise, your heart rate increases. For example, if you are running a 10K, your heart rate increases, and if you are sprinting the last 100 meters, your heart rate will increase further.
Anxiety also increases your heart rate. If you are stressed before an event, your heart rises to the detriment of your performance.
Measuring your heart rate by taking your pulse helps you monitor how you respond to a situation. Therefore, heart rate can become an early warning sign of anxiety buildup. By applying an anxiety management strategy, you can use heart rate as feedback on the strategy’s effectiveness.
Now, let’s look at some practical strategies to manage competitive anxiety
5 Strategies to Manage Competitive Anxiety
Now that you understand the initial warning signs of anxiety, let’s examine ways to lessen anxious feelings:
Practice 2-3 anxiety management strategies in training and practice sessions until you gain the confidence to apply them under the stress of competition. An added benefit is that anxiety management is a transferable skill. You can use these strategies to reduce your anxiety in any stressful situation inside and outside of sports.
Coach Michael
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