Pressure in sport is the mental and emotional stress or tension that athletes experience in pursuit of peak performance and results. At the highest level of sport, pressure is often what makes or breaks athletes and teams. Some players and teams don’t just deal with pressure but thrive under it. While others capitulate when it matters most, unable to perform to their potential when the defining moments roll round. So how does one deal with pressure to ensure that it doesn’t prevent us from playing to our potential in the big moments?
Acknowledge
The first step is to acknowledge that pressure is real and that it can have a very real impact on performance. The many examples of professional athletes crumbling in big moments should serve as sufficient evidence that this invisible force is out there. However, for those with more scientific inclinations, there are numerous studies in sports psychology that have shown the impact of pressure on athlete’s performances that can be referred to. In acknowledging that pressure is real and that it can have a very real impact on performance, the athlete has begun the process to dealing with it.
Plan
The second step is to plan routines that will be used to deal with pressure in the heat of the battle. Here, the athlete must build a system that is made up of a sequence of actions that allows the athlete to focus entirely on their process and not on anything else. By having a routine that focusses the mind on the process, the athlete gives themselves the chance to treat pressure moments the same as any other. So the penalty kick from the halfway line to win your country the Rugby World Cup becomes just like any other penalty kick from the halfway line… because the mind is focussed on the process rather than distracted by the pressure of the moment.
Practice
The third step is to practice under pressure. Ever watched a tennis player nail ace after ace in practice and then make lots of first-serve faults in matches? Or noted that the kicker on your rugby team has a better conversion percentage at training on Wednesdays than they do at games on Saturdays?
A crucial part to explaining why this might be the case is that these athletes often don’t practice enough under pressure. Of course, there is a time and place to perfect technique. However, there is also a time and place to practice under pressure. And to do that, athletes need to decrease their volume at practice and increase the stakes, creating consequences for errors.
So the tennis player might want to occasionally practice only 20 first serves a session and if they don’t get 15 of those in, then they do a fitness forfeit. And you might want to tell the kicker on your rugby team that the rest of the team can’t leave training until they make six kicks in a row from different parts of the field.
The point here is that if anyone wants to get better at performing under pressure, then they need to practice it. And by practicing with consequences for errors, we go some way to replicating the pressure we experience in competition and getting comfortable with it.
Embrace
The final step is to embrace pressure. A key component of the mentality of champions is that they see opportunities rather than threats. They envision glory on the other end of the decisive play rather than heartbreak. This way of framing key moments in competition ensures that champions use pressure to motivate, excite, and elevate themselves, and not to frighten, startle, and cripple themselves.
Conclusion
The good news? Dealing with pressure is undoubtedly an aspect of sport that can be worked at and improved. If you are someone who struggles to cope with pressure or someone who wants to get better at performing under pressure, then you should partner with a Sports Mental Coach to get guidance and training on how to use this invisible force to be the best athlete you can be. Pressure is energy. What you do with that energy is up to you.
