How to Overcome Sports Anxiety

Experiencing anxiety before or during participation in sports can detract from both your enjoyment and your performance. Anxiety can turn what should be a celebration and showcase of your athletic skills into a detrimental experience that snuffs your self-confidence. Anxiety's mental components include feelings or thoughts of impending doom, persistent worry, powerlessness, tension and panic. Physical symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness, trembling, fatigue, sweating and increased heart rate. While a little bit of anxiety is normal, allowing performance-inhibiting anxiety to remain unchecked can ultimately destroy your belief in yourself and your ability to reach your athletic potential.

Instructions

    • 1

      Engage in rhythmic, deep breathing whenever possible throughout both sports practices and performances. As you breathe, repeat a simple relaxation meditation to yourself, such as "Breathe and relax." Make breathing rhythmically and deeply in and out a habit prior to every sporting event.

    • 2

      Relax your muscles and your mind together. Scan your body for tension from your toes to the top of your head, consciously relaxing any muscle groups that feel tight. As you do this, repeat the word "relax" to yourself.

    • 3

      Visualize yourself performing at a peak level in a relaxed and focused state before and during your sporting event. Before the event, visualize exactly what you want to happen throughout your athletic performance from start to finish. If you have any down time or breaks during an event, visualize precisely what you want to happen next, such as shooting a perfect free throw in basketball.

    • 4

      Cultivate positive self-talk throughout sports practices and performances and disallow negative internal dialogue, as it will only cause your anxiety levels to rise. Choose simple and encouraging phrases to fuel your performance, such as "Let's do this" and "Super strong." Blow off any mistakes instantly, immediately reminding yourself of all of the times you've succeeded or of how much practice you've put into perfecting your skills.

    • 5

      Practice your mental skills at coping with anxiety every time you practice your physical athletic skills. Pretend that each practice is a performance and that you are there to do your best. If you make these tactics a habit in practice, they will be much easier to use effectively when it's time to perform.