Mental Performance Anxiety – The Hidden Culprit

Performance anxiety seems to be the number one issue in youth sports these days.

Welcome to the Mental Toughness Academy! I’m Craig Sigl, the Mental Toughness Trainer for youth athletes.

It is easy to blame it on the kid’s parents or coaches, but I think anxiety in sports goes much deeper than just pressure from sports parents and coaches.

Love to know your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

What are the Effects of Performance Anxiety on Sports Performance?

It seems like everywhere around the world, kids in sports are experiencing some sort of sports performance anxiety like this every day…

Lori, a 16-year old swimmer, has spent the last 6 months working hard every day at practice, giving her all at every meet and even short-changing her time with friends, in preparation for a big meet coming up.

She has been turning in some amazing times in practice with personal bests happening just about every week! Her coach keeps reassuring her that she’s “got it all down” and she is totally ready. He said he expects her to win at least 4 races at this next meet.

Lori nods her head and acts confident in front of her coach, but in her mind a little voice keeps saying, “I don’t believe it.”

The morning of the big meet, she notices that she feels a little nervous and anxious. As her time to race gets closer, her stomach starts tying up in knots. Now, she’s starting to feel terrified.

Her mind flashes to more negative thoughts like worrying about how much money her parents have spent on her sport and if she will disappoint them if she doesn’t turn in a personal best today.

She said it felt like a dagger twisting in her stomach even more when she thought about the time she slipped while jumping off the block and cost her team a win in a relay.

As her first race approaches, her muscles tighten up even more and she feels hot and sweaty.

She makes it through the first race, although she finished a full 3 seconds slower than her practice time the day before. Her second race was just as disappointing, but she finally starts to relax a bit and stops caring about her times.

At her third race, she completely demolishes her competitors and finally gets the personal best she has worked so hard for.

So what happened here?

First, let me explain what causes anxiety in sports performances. It comes down to fear, specifically, fear of failure.

Well what is fear then and why do we need it?

Fear is the body’s defense against physical danger and causes the body to go into heightened alert. The problem is, our nervous system doesn’t know the difference between the fear of losing in a swim match and the fear we experience when we face death.

When we feel fear, our bodies release adrenaline and cortisol, which helps get us into the fight or flight mode.

What also happens is blood flows mainly to the major muscle groups, making it difficult for us to perform fine motor muscle movements. That’s why any sport that requires precise movements and highly refined skill are most effected by performance anxiety.

If that isn’t bad enough, less blood goes to the brain, which is why some athletes freeze up in competition or forget what to do when they are performing under pressure.

What is the cure for mental performance anxiety?

The simple solution is to let go of the need to perform well, just like you do in practice when there’s nothing at stake. Easier said than done, right? Usually our brains aren’t so easily fooled.

The real solution is to change your internal beliefs to, “I’m not afraid to lose.” This is something elite athletes understand and practice. They want to win, of course. In fact, they go all out to win and most of them really HATE losing.

The difference between elite athletes and those that suffer from performance anxiety is that elite athletes DON’T FEAR losing. Yes, they dislike it intensely and if they lose, they work harder the next time to avoid it like the plague, but they are not afraid of it. That’s the key.

How do you stop being afraid of losing?

You examine what losing (or making a mistake) really means to you. Most of the time, when I ask an athlete what’s wrong with losing or performing poorly, they will invariably answer, “I’ll feel bad”, “I’ll be disappointed” or “I’ll be embarrassed.” These are all just emotions. If we boil it down to what we are really afraid of, we are simply afraid of experiencing difficult emotions!

Let’s keep breaking this down… So what really are emotions?

Emotions are nothing more than some chemicals released in our body. These chemicals actually have a scientific name called “peptides” and there is a corresponding peptide configuration for every emotion we experience.

The feelings come from those chemicals hitting the muscles and tissues (like Lori’s stomach problems). So, the feelings of embarrassment, disappointment, and inadequacy are really nothing more than our own natural chemicals!

Well, what if we weren’t afraid of those feelings? There would be no fear of failure, because the word “failure” simply represents a bunch of feelings we MIGHT experience if we don’t do well. And those feelings are nothing more than chemicals hitting parts of our body!

Failure is just a word. It doesn’t really mean anything except the meaning you give it. If you decide it’s ultimately nothing more than some internal chemicals our body produces, then you can go out do your best and have no fear!

Without the fear, performance anxiety in sports and all areas of your life cease to exist! This is when you are really mentally tough.

What have your found works to help your athletes with performance anxiety? Share your experiences in the comments below.