Handle Competition Nerves
After the last competition, you vowed to face the next one with confidence.
Well, here you are today and that vision hasn’t come true.
You worked very hard to make changes, but you worry it’s not enough.
You are looking for a better way to handle the nausea, butterflies and shaky legs. You want to stop feeling dread before competition.
All you want is to feel calm, prepared, and excited, for competition.
You want a chance show off your true abilities.
You did everything right, then that moment hits.
The jitters are overwhelming and you feel like you can’t handle it. You want to throw up or run away. You don’t want to step foot on the ice.
You know that if you can just get through the nerves, you will be great…you need help.
About Nerves
Preparing your skating for competition is only a part of the total picture.
The other part comes from our biology.
Our bodies were created to survive in prehistoric times. Evolution hasn’t caught us up with modern times yet.
Nerves or jitters are our body’s natural response to stress or danger.
A hormone called adrenaline is the cause of feeling butterflies in your stomach or jello legs.
When we were cavemen living with saber-toothed tigers, this stress response saved us from being eaten.
You can feel the stress response when someone jumps out at you unexpectedly in a dark alley, or when you go on a good rollercoaster ride.
These days we don’t have that much danger, but our bodies still respond in the prehistoric (running from a sabre-toothed tiger) way, to things that seem “threatening or difficult.”
Competition is not life threatening (even though sometimes it feels like it might be). We cannot dial down the volume on the amount of our stress response.
The good thing is that in addition to the butterflies or nerves, adrenaline has some benefits.
Adrenaline:
- Gives you clarity
- Your mind is able to concentrate and focus strongly on your program.
- Gives you a boost in strength
- You can jump higher and flow through your program more easily.
Take charge
We can’t stop this automatic stress response our body has to “competition”, but understanding that nerves are a part of this response can help us handle them better.
Remind yourself that the butterflies in your stomach are a sign of adrenaline.
Adrenaline is a sign that your body and mind are ready to skate in your event.
Now take charge of those butterflies.
Butterflies represent the extra energy you created to face this challenge.
Take the chaotic energy of the butterflies flying every-which-way in your belly, and make them fly in formation.
In this way you can harness and concentrate the butterfly energy to help you skate better.
Here are a few tips for handling nerves in competition:
- Remind yourself that butterflies mean that you are ready to skate with increased focus and strength.
- Take a quiet moment. Close your eyes and breathe slowly. Focus on the exhale.
- Finally, imagine your butterflies flying in any formation of your choosing.
Now it’s your turn: How creative can you be with your butterflies? Share your favorite formation, I’d love to hear it.
Mental skills training can make a difference because it can help you access what is already there during competition and practice.
Start here; download “Confidence Myth Busters,” a complimentary eBook and make a change.