How to Deal with Nerves: A Champion's Guide to Pre-Competition Calm
- Dr Paul McCarthy
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
Have your legs ever shaken before a big game? As an elite athlete, I struggled to deal with nerves throughout my career. My anxiety would spike before major competitions, and it became a familiar feeling .
Pre-competition nerves are natural , but they can grow excessive and hurt your performance . A young athlete once told me how he sat in his dad's car trunk, his legs shaking so much that his father thought he was cold . Athletes at every level - from weekend warriors to
Olympic champions - experience anxiety in competitive sports .
Your racing heart and sweaty palms are actually your body's way of helping you perform better . These stress hormones can sharpen your focus . The secret lies in controlling your nerves instead of letting them control you.
This piece shares practical strategies that I developed through years of competition. These techniques will help you overcome nervousness, manage pre-game jitters, and reshape the scene into calm confidence before your performance. Let's use those butterflies to your advantage!
Prepare Your Mind and Environment
Preparation is the life-blood of managing competitive nerves. Elite athletes create detailed pre-competition routines that substantially improve their muscle coordination by 30% compared to those without such routines [1]. These approaches help direct attention and regulate emotional responses to stress. They also allow motor skills to function with minimal conscious interference [2].
You can eliminate logistical mishaps—a common source of anxiety. When you host transportation, equipment, and schedules properly, it creates a sense of control as pressure mounts [3]. Your routine should include absorbing activities like reading or watching films that prevent overthinking [3].
Visualization proves exceptionally effective at reducing anxiety levels. Regular practice can improve focus and technique retention by approximately 25% [1]. Multi-sensory experiences make visualization more powerful. You should imagine not just what you'll see but also sounds, smells, and physical sensations that relate to successful performance [4].
Sports psychologists suggest developing a "Pre-Competition Activity Routine" (PCA-R) based on your past successful experiences [2]. This might include specific foods, clothes, warm-up sequences or even sitting in particular places that relate to your previous victories.
Pressure affects concentration first [5]. A well-laid-out preparation routine gives you something concrete to focus on and prevents your mind from wandering into anxiety-producing territory [6].
Use Body and Breath to Stay Grounded
Athletes can get quick relief from pre-competition anxiety through physical techniques. Breathing exercises are especially powerful because they activate your parasympathetic nervous system - your body's natural way to calm down [7].
Navy SEALs use box breathing to handle intense pressure. The technique works with a simple 4-count pattern: breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, and hold again for 4 [8]. You can start with one-second intervals and build up as you get comfortable [9]. This method helps calm your nerves whatever the situation.
Your body also responds well to diaphragmatic (belly) breathing. Put one hand on your chest and another below your ribcage. Your stomach hand should be the only one that moves substantially [10]. This way of breathing takes less effort, needs less oxygen, and lets you use your full lung capacity [8].
Dynamic warm-ups get your heart pumping and breathing rate up slowly. They also help your joints move better [11]. Basic moves like jumping jacks, arm circles, and lunges get your whole body ready.
Research from the University of Portsmouth shows that athletes who added breathing exercises to their training saw their times improve by 5-12 percent [12]. Athletes who synced their breathing with their stride performed the best [12].
These physical techniques are the foundations of feeling centered, sharp, and ready to perform your best even with nervous energy.
Build a Mental Toolkit for Calm
Champions need more than physical skills - they need mental tools to handle competitive pressure. The best athletes find a clear sense of purpose that boosts their performance and keeps their emotions steady by giving them a better viewpoint [13].
Good mantras work well to manage anxiety. These short, repeatable phrases help you focus and stop your racing thoughts. Your mantras should be:
Brief (3-7 words)
In rhythm with your movement
Personal and meaningful to you
Athletes who used pre-race mantras like "I've done the work" or "Stay with it" showed substantially better performance [14]. Research from Harvard also found that using self-talk to think of anxiety as "excitement" led to better results [14].
The process matters more than the outcome. You should focus on effort-based goals that you can control rather than results that depend on outside factors. Athletes build motivation and reduce frustration when they track three positive efforts after each practice [15].
Music serves as a powerful mental tool. Research shows athletes who listened to music before competing had a higher heart rate, greater peak power, and improved performance [16]. You can create stronger mental connections by visualizing your performance while listening to a specific song, which triggers muscle memory on competition day [17].
Finding your "why" - your deeper purpose beyond winning - creates a foundation that keeps you grounded when pressure builds [15].
Conclusion
Managing pre-competition nerves ended up being a personal trip of finding myself through practice. My athletic career taught me that feeling nervous before big events was my body's way of getting ready to perform its best. I learned to embrace and channel these feelings productively instead of trying to eliminate them.
A mix of solid preparation, physical grounding techniques, and strong mental strategies helps manage competitive anxiety effectively. Your pre-competition routine should grow and adapt as you find what fits your specific needs. Some athletes do great with meditation, while others need upbeat music or visualization exercises to get in the zone.
Patience is a vital part of developing these skills. Just like any athletic technique, becoming skilled at controlling your nerves needs time and regular practice. Every champion I've known or competed against dealt with nerves, but they built customized systems that turned that energy into focused performance.
And here's something important - be kind to yourself along the way. Everyone gets those pre-competition jitters, whatever their experience level might be. The gap between good and great performers isn't about having no nerves - it's about how they work with them. Those butterflies in your stomach aren't trying to throw you off—they're just getting ready to fly together. Use these strategies, and watch your biggest source of anxiety become your competitive edge.
Key Takeaways to Deal with Nerves
Master these champion-tested strategies to transform pre-competition anxiety into peak performance fuel and competitive advantage.
• Create structured pre-competition routines - Elite athletes improve muscle coordination by 30% through detailed preparation that eliminates logistical stress and includes visualization practice.
• Use breathing techniques for instant calm - Box breathing (4-count pattern) and belly breathing activate your parasympathetic nervous system, with studies showing 5-12% performance improvements.
• Focus on process over outcome - Set effort-based goals you can control rather than results, and develop personal mantras (3-7 words) to interrupt anxious thoughts.
• Channel nerves as performance fuel - Pre-competition anxiety signals your body's readiness to excel; successful athletes embrace these feelings rather than eliminate them completely.
Remember that learning to manage competitive nerves is a skill that develops over time through consistent practice. The goal isn't to eliminate nervousness entirely, but to build a personalized toolkit that transforms that energy into focused, confident performance when it matters most.
References
[1] - https://www.drpaulmccarthy.com/post/how-visualization-techniques-can-elevate-athletic-performance-unleashing-the-power-of-the-mind-in-s[2] - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9374066/[3] - https://worldathletics.org/personal-best/performance/pre-competition-nerves-anxiety-advice-tips[4] - https://thebehaviourinstitute.com/how-to-develop-the-power-of-visualization-in-sports-performance/[5] - https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/5-tips-for-overcoming-sports-performance-anxiety-in-student-athletes[6] - https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=65522§ion=6[7] - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9873947/[8] - https://blayze.io/blog/general/the-science-of-breathing-for-athletes[9] - https://pliability.com/stories/breathing-exercises-for-athletes[10] - https://ahead-app.com/blog/anxiety/breathe-your-way-to-calm-5-athletic-techniques-for-breathing-for-anxiety[11] - https://www.activekids.com/soccer/articles/10-dynamic-warm-up-exercises-for-youth-athletes[12] - https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/breathing-techniques-for-sport[13] - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/how-does-having-a-sense-of-purpose-enhance-performance[14] - https://www.teamsnap.com/blog/how-to/5-mantras-to-boost-your-performance[15] - https://truesport.org/a-good-sport/prioritize-effort-over-outcome/[16] - https://medium.com/langmuscoglab/ask-any-athlete-about-their-pre-game-warm-up-routine-and-they-will-likely-mention-listening-to-0fccd0df7f22[17] - https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/scientific-research-says-music-benefits-athletic-performance/
