How To Get Over Sports Fears
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- www.mentaltough...
Sports Fears
In this video, you will learn mental toughness tips what I shared with a group of wrestlers right before they went out to compete in their tournament. They won as a team by one point.
What is performance anxiety? Well, to cut to the chase it's this: fear. This is the number one problem in all sports. Fear of embarrassing yourself, fear of disappointing your parents, fear of disappointing your coaches, your teammates. Fear - right? Fear of not doing so well.
Alright, so here's how I help people get over fear. First of all, we're going to break it down. We do fear for two reasons. For physical danger and because we are afraid of our emotions. Now, this is something that you don't hear too often.
What are we really afraid of about losing when we under perform in a match? We're afraid of embarrassment, we are disappointments, what else? What else are we afraid of that might happen? Some people are afraid of getting angry. Some people are afraid of the sadness that might come from it.
But I always ask my athletes, "So if you lose, what's going to happen? Is someone going to shoot you if you lose this game?" No. No physical danger there. "Is somebody going to take your house away and your food and your clothing and shelter?" No. "Is there anything physical?"
No. So what is it that we are afraid of? Well, all emotions including fear, they're just chemicals running through your body. Let me give you the breakdown of what happens.
You're going against a guy who crushed you the last time you went. Or you know he is the best around and has an undefeated record. And you're starting to get tense and you're starting to get nervous. What's going on?
Chemicals just got released in your body and then they attach to cells, fibers, tissues, even muscles, even bones. And they make your body feel something. So there's an emotion - fear. And then there's a feeling. It is the feeling that hurts your performance. Going out there on fire feeling like you're going to kill this guy or scared to death. It's not even close - right?
So that's our whole goal to is to get into that state. All you have to do is tell yourself, "Huh! Look at that! I've got some chemicals doing some things in my body. There's nothing to worry about outside of my body.
We as athletes, we as human beings, tend to blow this fear thing up and feel like our whole life has come apart here. We just need to remember that literally, they're just chemicals. That's all that's going on. There's no outside force punishing you. Feeling of fear and by the way goes for all your feelings: anger, sadness, guilt, hurt, shame, embarrassment, rejection -- They're just chemicals.
Let me tell you a quick story. You guys might experience this. A few years ago I was in the dating world and I asked this woman out for a date. We had a good time. Afterwards I write her an email, "Hey! I enjoyed our date and I'd like to get to know you better." The next morning there's an email saying, "You know I enjoyed the time too, but I'm not interested in you romantically. I just want to be your friend."
Now, at first, I'm feeling rejection. So this pertains to wrestling, because you guys are all in some way have going to experience rejection or the fear of losing. So what do I do?
I actually feel like this hole in my gut. I don't know if you guys have ever been dumped by a girl or not or anybody for that matter. It doesn't feel very good. So the tendency is to go, "I suck. There must be something wrong with me. I must not be good enough.
No, this is what you should do! Instead say, "Look at that. There's some chemicals making my stomach making me feel that way. That's kind of interesting. I'm just going to be in it for a while. They are just chemicals." The truth of the situation is she was just saying "we're not a match."
In any relationship, either side can say we're not a match. That's being truthful. It doesn't mean I'm not good enough or I'm not good enough as a person. It doesn't mean I'm not good looking enough. It doesn't mean I'm not smart enough. None of that. You can use the same techniques and tools out there on the mat. Do you understand the metaphor? It's just chemicals. That's what I want you guys to tell yourself. This is how you get over rejection and sports fears!
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GREAT VIDEO. IM SCARED THE MOST OF SHAME AND EMBARRASSMENT
I hear you and you can take comfort that EVERYONE is scared of this to some degree. Those are both just chemical releases in your body, bottom line. For more on that: www.mentaltoughnesstrainer.com/emotions-and-physical-harm/
fear of getting injured
If you can figure that out it will make all the difference!
When I was 9 I competed in wrestling because my life dream was WWE. However, I was chubby and nervous. Wasn't even in the tournament and I was dropped so easily. I came home with pain in my legs , hands , and head. One day this kid who looked like he was 200 pounds picked me up and dropped me on my back not on the mat but on the concrete floor, injuring my back. I'm now 12, I've never competed wrestling since. I've been planning on a return but I went downhill getting injuries by anything, my advice for any person planning on wrestling is to be prepared for the biggest step towards victory.
Thanks for commenting Kayden! Hope your difficulty turns into blessing. Look for that!
Fear of doing too well and not being able to handle it
Thanks for comment Kevin. Yep, fear of success is similar to fear of failure. I would ask why you don't think you can handle it? It's mostly fear of the unknown. Why don't you explore what would actually happen if you do too well and think your way through it? I bet you can handle it.
Mental Toughness Trainer thanks! I think it is the unknown. I'm a good player but sometimes I feel like I can't handle the attention or pressure. I'll definitely try to think it through...
Kevin D g
You bet - thanks for taking the time to watch our video on sports fears!
Not my favorite story, but it illustrates the point!
Fear of freezing and not being able to come with the techniques in hand at the right time...
Totally normal for most athletes. It's some form of fear of failure. From my work with hundreds of teen athletes, 95% of mental issues come down to that.
What you have to do is explore "What you really are afraid of" go one level deeper than "freezing."
There's 2 steps to help anyone get over any fear:
1. Make the unknown known
and
2. Go to the Worst Case Scenario and play the story out in your mind and continue it until
you get to the point where you end up o.k. Then focus on the o.k.
I made a program to do that for mature teens and adults:
sportsmentaltoughness.com/fearless
You know a lot about this stuff respect, I don't have this problem anymore but I did at one point
Thanks for comment!
Great channel - its a shame that you dont have at least like 500k views. Really good job
Thank you!
Craig
i didn't get into the rowing regatta i was sure i could get into but this helped a lot :) thanks
veni vidi vici You're always welcome! :)
Love the story about how you overcame a date that rejected you - great perspective for the kids to learn from!
Thanks man
Fear of being great?
Absolutely, happens to many great players.