Handling Competition Pressure With Mental Strength

“Pressure creates tension, and when you’re tense, you want to get your task over and done with as fast as possible. The more you hurry in golf, the worse you probably will play, which leads to even heavier pressure and greater pressure. To avoid this vicious circle, I’ll take a couple of deep breaths and quickly review why I’m doing what I’m doing. Basically, I’m doing it because, win or lose, I enjoy playing golf and competing. This usually eases any mental tension I’m feeling by re-establishing my perspective on victory and defeat in relation to life in the whole.” —Jack Nicklaus, PGA Golfer

Do you tend to perform better on the practice range vs. a competitive round of golf?

Do you perform remarkable athletic techniques in practicing, only to struggle when the game is on the line?

Even if this happens rarely to you, don’t worry…you’re not alone. Many athletes struggle performing up to their capabilities during competition, when it matters most. In this post we will look at the differences between the mindset of athletic performance in practice and competition, identify obstacles to performance, and talk about strategies to conquer these obstacles.

I’ve covered this mental strength topic in earlier posts and felt it is worthwhile to revisit it with some additional information.

The Difference Between Practice and Competition

As mentioned above, some athletes perform great in practice but, when competition rolls around, they are unable to execute at this same level. Is there a difference between practice and competition that might account for changes in athletic performance?

Absolutely!

Take a minute to think about the external environments of practice and competition.  Now think compare your state and mental “chatter” in each of these two environments, many of the differences are pretty obvious.

In the external competitive environment, there are perhaps hundreds of people watching you.  You have opponents to face.  A scoreboard that reminds you that each shot and play really matter’s.  You’ve got the media and fans with camera are pressed in your face. You also have fans looking for autographs.  Then you have friends, family, competitors, judges that tend to act and interact with you differently on a competition day versus a practice day.

These differences are not going to go away, so the challenge is to learn how use your mental strength and manage these potential distractions—or, better put, to manage the way you respond to the various aspects of the competitive environment.

While there are many differences in the external environment, it is important to also recognize that much stays the same from the practice to the competitive environment. The field you practiced on is physically the same field you’ll compete on. Your physical and technical athletic skills haven’t changed, you use the same equipment, and the same rules of the game apply. Remind yourself that the things that most matter to performance stay the same between practice and competition.

So if the physical environment for the competition stays about the same and your athletic ability is the same, then what changes internally do you experience between practice and competition?

Take a few minutes to think about how your mind and your body respond to practice and how they respond to competition. During competition, most athletes experience changes in their body such as increased heart rate, jitters, tightened muscles, butterflies in the stomach, and some even report feeling lethargic. Most likely your mind is filled with a multitude of thoughts and images regarding the upcoming competition—they can be positive, productive and supportive…or they can be negative, detrimental and unsupportive.

The good news is the choice is up to you!

The challenge with the physical and mental changes that happen due to the competitive situation is to manage them. Recognizing the need to control these thoughts and images and learning how to do so effectively, will greatly improve your chances to achieve peak performance and to do the best of your ability by handling the pressure when it counts.

What Gets To You?

We have looked at some of the differences between practice and competition that may contribute to why your athletic performance falters in competition.

Now, let’s take some steps to address the situation. It is important to identify what specifically about the external environment or your internal reaction to competition seems to be most harmful to your athletic performance. It’s critical to identify the obstacle being faced before identifying and implementing strategies to help manage competitive performance, right?

To do this we need to ask “what causes you to struggle in your athletic performance?

It’s a basic and important fact— athletes are different. For one athlete, external pressure from a coach or parent may negatively impact performance, whereas another athlete may be affected by uncontrolled anxiety.

So…what gets to you?

What’s disturbs your peace of mind…your concentration…your mental strength?

To effectively answer this question, think back to past performances where you have not performed up to your capabilities, what got to you?  Was it

• Low confidence due to nagging self-doubts and negativity?
• Excessive mental anxiety?
• Excessive physical anxiety that you couldn’t control?
• An inability to manage external distractions?
• Your own expectations or the expectations of others?
• An inability to focus on the task at hand?

In the pervious post “Mental Strength Strategies to Control Performance Pressure” I identified specific strategies to help you manage the obstacles you face in your competitive endeavors.

What gets to you?  How do you conquer it?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.