7 Sure Fire Ways to Reduce the Tension

Getting nervous is common to athletes of all ages and skill levels. I just had one of the best pitchers in the world staying with me last week - Tanya Harding is a 3-time Olympic pitcher for Australia and a former national champion at UCLA. We were working with a local 18 and Under team, the Tampa Wildcats, who were getting ready to go to nationals and they were talking about being nervous and how they should handle it.

Tanya said that it's normal to be nervous and that if you're not then it means whatever's going to happen isn't that important to you. She told the Wildcats how she threw the Gold Medal game in the 2004 Olympic Games against the United States and she was nervous - that is until she started warming up and then she got into her routine and her preparation took over.

Let's look at some Keys for Calming Nerves:

1. Have a routine for warming up - This just means a certain way you always warm up that you know works for you. This knowledge that your warm up works helps keep you from changing things when you're nervous and possibly leaving out an important part of your warm-up. It also will help keep you from looking around at the crowd, and instead will get you focusing on getting ready to play.
2. Know that everyone gets nervous and that the other team is nervous too. Also know that the crowd is nervous since they want the players to do well but can't do anything about it, so you're not alone in being nervous. Big games can make big nerves!
3. Big Deep Breaths also help a lot whenever you're really nervous. When we get nervous our breathing can get really shallow and seem almost like we aren't breathing at all. This really tightens up our shoulders which can really hurt our performance. So the next time you find yourself really nervous, try taking a HUGE deep breath IN through your nose and let it OUT through your mouth. Take two just for good measure and you'll be amazed at how much it helps!
4. Control the Controllables - give each player a sheet of paper and pencil and have them draw a line down the middle of the paper. Nobody puts their name on their paper as our answers need to be honest, and will be shared with the group. On the left side of the line down-the-middle have them write: "All Things I CAN Control", and on the right side write: "All Things I CAN'T Control". Have them each take about 10 minutes to write as many things one each side of the paper as they can. You might help them by giving a few examples for each category. For instance, things I CAN Control - my effort, my belief in myself, my support of my teammates. Things I CAN'T Control - umpire calls, what the crowd says, cheers the other team does. Then, after everyone is finished gather up all the papers and write all of their answers on a BIG sheet of paper, with ALL THINGS WE CAN CONTROL written on the left side and ALL THINGS WE CAN'T CONTROL written on the right. Then ask them all to find ways for the team to control the "controllables" and ways for the team to ignore the "uncontrollabels".
5. Make the post season a whole new season - It's like starting your 2nd season and every team enters post-season with a 0-0 record. This helps teams that maybe just squeaked into the playoffs have confidence and belief in their ability to take on the "favorites" by knowing that the "favorites" also have a 0-0 record in the playoffs or post-season for this year. Remember not to bring in past year records for any of your opponents!
6. Take the Focus Off Your Opponent by creating an inner-team-challenge for the game. Split the 7 inning game up into 4 smaller parts based on innings. Innings 1-2, Innings 3-4, Innings 5-6 and the 7th Inning! Now instead of trying to "win the game" against a heavily favored team, instead simply work to Win the Inning! So your team's first goal is to win Innings 1-2, then Innings 3-4 and so on. It really helps make the whole game focus much smaller and as a result it becomes much more manageable and tangible for teams, and creates a great ability for coming from behind if needed!
7. Trust Your Preparation - Instead of having your players look ahead at a team or game that gives them too much unknown, instead ask them to look back and remember all the practice they put in. Think back to all the running they did, all the grounders and flys they fielded, and all the pitches they made and pitches they hit. This is when they were working to build up winning moments so these are the moments they need to remember and trust in as they go forward into the game. Have your players look across the field into the opponents dugout and ask themselves if they think their opponents put in as much practice and hard work. Then go out and play them with belief in their preparation and trust in how this will allow them to play well!

Having nerves makes us human, conquering our nerves can make us champions! If you're looking for more exercises like the Fear Can, or more information on how to handle other off-the-field issues then you'll want to check out our book, A Coaches Guide to Creating Team Chemistry: Tips on Coaching Female Athletes.