Competitive Anxiety
What is it?
Put simply, competing with others put physical and mental stress on the body. This can result in a drop in performance and failure to achieve your true potential.
How can it hurt my performance?
In the short term, this can lead to choking, poor tactical and strategic decisions, and even injury due to accident. In the long term, losses can get under your skin and injure your self-confidence – repeating the problem and magnifying it.
How can I tackle it?
While every athlete is different, we would recommend starting by implementing the following.
Breath Management: Controlled breathing can help manage your physical and mental stress state. This should be done immediately before performance.
Regular Meditation: Taking time to manage your performance day and take time to mediate and centre yourself can be incredibly useful. This is best done several hours before you enter the competition space.
Evidential Training: If you’re still looking to build confidence, keep track of your practical and psychological accomplishments and refer to them to build confidence. This should track your best KPI’s and cover times you psychologically pushed through. This is best implemented as an ongoing goal and involve regular research into what anxiety management regime works best for you.
