9 Strategies to Calm Pre-Match nerves.

A Pre-Performance routine is a sequence of actions of processes that help focus an athlete prior to playing or doing something (i.e., Taking a penalty, Free kick etc). Once this is complete the athlete will feel more focused and ready to play.

Some athletes will take a deep breath prior to making an action or resetting their socks (pulling them down and back into position again). Finding an action or sequence to help an athlete can be a big step forward to helping them find ways around a challenge emotionally.

If being able to focus quickly is important than being able to REFOCUS is vital compared to others. Having that opportunity to reset the players thought process under pressure can help athletes advance quicker than other techniques.

Athletes have attached emotion or a reset to button to something simple so that they can engage at a cooler mindset. Some athletes use an elastic band on their wrist that they retract and let go to activate a calmer mindset, some clear the mood off their boots by kicking against the goal posts.

Find one that suits the players as an individual rather than a collective as the same one won’t suit everyone.

Control the Controllable’s. It is very important that prior to an athlete going into any event they must understand what they can control, can’t control and what can be influenced positively or negatively.

It’s easy to get affected by things outside of us that we can’t control (weather, crowd’s actions, or opposition). Though some things may be influenced with what we do most things that go on that we can’t control and need to accept that. Concentrating on the wrong things will only heighten a player’s anxiety and limit their performance possibilities.

A great challenge for your athletes to attempt is to work out what top 5 things are in your control and what are outside of your control.

Use the document attached to challenge your players: Control the Controllable’s

When we take control of our breathing, we take on more oxygen and relax our heart, head, and muscles more as we start to calm the actions that the body is doing. You will see some players take a deep breathe before doing something individually.

Start doing this at the very next session, once a player has done something physically demanding, get them to take control of their breathing and see how fast they recover. Breathing control helps refocus the brain to what’s important and what is needed to get the mind back to what is needed to perform.

Taking slow deep breaths can help calm the nerves ready for action. You will hear fighters coaches shout to them in events “remember to breath” or “breath”. This is because a control breathing action, calms the body and refocuses the mind.

Picturing yourself performing an action has been proven to support the muscle memory of whatever action they are going to complete.

Even though Hypnosis had developed a negative reputation throughout the 19^th century. Modern research is now showing the positivity of this action to help people become more entwined in post or future actions. Though we’re not suggesting hypnotising your players, we are suggesting that being in a calm state and picturing actions that your players will perform can help them understand the possible outcomes, impartially the positive ones. This can help reduce stress, anxiety, raise motivation and performance.

Perception is Projection.

What we think is often clear to all. Even though we may have a “poker face” we tend to give away our ways of thinking for all to see in the heat of battle. We may drop to our knees quickly once we’re fatigued or become very fidgety showing anxiety and nerves are building up. Your nerves will naturally develop energy and want to be used quickly, this is why we tend to want to walk about or look around and fidgety loads more then usual.

Controlling how this is projected is important for athletes to take back control. Rebuilding how we think and feel at important events and making them a habit will benefit us all immensely.

Squash the negative energy quickly and inject it with positivity so that the body reacts the same. Positive mind = positive performance.

Sitting still focusing on what is to come can be the worst thing to do. Distract yourself from what’s coming up by keeping busy and being proactive. Speaking to teammates, listening, and being involved in music (actually listen!) going through the tactics ready for the game.

Keeping your mind occupied is a nice and quick way of distracting from the event coming up. It guides the energy build up into something positive for your next challenge.

Accepting that nerves are an important part of the pre-match build up and that nerves show you care and want the best is a perfect way of getting over them, eventually. If you understand that nerves will happen, then it’ll be easier to deal with or it won’t shock you when they do.

One major symptom of being nervous is the feeling of being under prepared for the upcoming event. Do you know the tactics, the opposition threats, have you applied enough time to work on these or is the game plan going to go right?

Making sure you have done everything you can to prepare for the game and understanding all of the above strategies then it’s easier to relax and beat the potential anxiety build up.

Practice, Practice, Practice is the best way through potential problems, practice your routine, your relaxation techniques, your refocusing processes everything. You practice the technical, tactical, and physical, well now it’s time to practice the psychological.