HomeSports psychologyHow Some of the Best Athletes in the World Handle Nerves

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How Some of the Best Athletes in the World Handle Nerves — 4 Comments

  1. In 2009, the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA), the oldest credentialing body for teaching professionals and coaches in the world, named Lawrence Eyre “National High School Coach of the Year. He coached many Iowa state championship winning teams at the Maharishi School, where all the tennis team players practice the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program twice daily. Eyre was asked: ”Do the Maharishi School tennis players have pre-game jitters? “Sure. With our team, it’s fair to say that butterflies in the stomach never disappear entirely, but with TM they fly in formation.”

    Fly in formation? What does that mean?
    “The adrenaline energy that’s an inevitable part of competition isn’t debilitating when the nervous system has less stress. Adrenaline is there, but in measured amounts that are not overwhelming, so players can remain focused and not lose balance.”

  2. An excellent post, quite unlike the standard approach to nerves. You’re talking about handling nerves as a training approach. I have always noticed how the best in any sport do better under pressure, Federers biography pointing out that he doesn’t like practice he prefers to play under real pressure in matches, that is what he considers proper training.

    My take on this is simply that competition is about beating people who should beat you so you need to learn to enjoy the pressure and use it as a weapon against your opponent. When I focus on that I have a better winning record than if I just focus on playing my shots well.

    Your words make the value of pressure very clear. Well done.

  3. Nerves is not ALL or NOTHING. What we know about arousal is that in a sport like tennis, low to moderate arousal is generally helpful while high levels of nerves are harmful. The challenge is to recover between the points so you can be a focused on the next point. That is why learning to regulate the mind and body is so important.