CRUSH IT !
Eight great ways to defeat your performance anxiety on the pickleball court .
By Michael Morgan
Whether it ’ s before a big tournament , or meeting a new group of people , everyone has nerves — literally . Our nervous system coordinates our movements , recognizes what ’ s most important to us , and is on the constant lookout for what could potentially hurt us . Having spent countless hours over the last decade with performance anxiety , I ’ m fascinated with how valuable and instinctual our nervous system is .
Other sources of stress come from how we think , traumatic experiences , uncertainty , or other factors such as quality of sleep , nutrition , hydration , or other pressures that come from our lived experiences , or imagined fears . There are ways to calm our nerves when facing challenging situations in pickleball .
REFRAMING ANXIETY
Most people look at anxiety as bad . It isn ’ t . It ’ s signaling something ’ s important to you . Of course , you want to win .
As author Joseph Campbell put it , “ The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek .” Whatever you fear , you value . You ’ ve got to slay the dragon of fear to get the gold ( medal ). Gold isn ’ t just laying around ; it ’ s usually guarded by something — fear .
The most common treasure we find when we confront our fears is discovering something we didn ’ t know about ourselves . We are more capable than we realized .
Friends , money , medals , and ranking points are nice as well . Remember , courage is not the absence of fear , but the confrontation of it .
UNCERTAINTY
A one-word definition of anxiety is : Uncertainty . You ’ re feeling nervous because you don ’ t know exactly how things will unfold . The goal is to realize that despite the unknown , uncertain outcomes , you can handle any of them .
Let ’ s say you ’ re getting ready for your first match of the day . What could happen ? Well , you could win , you could lose , you could forfeit , someone could sadly have an injury , or you could embarrass yourself to the point that the entire community never wants to play with you again . I say this last one facetiously , however the fear of embarrassment , humiliation , or shame is one of our greatest fears .
Luckily for us , this is not the type of community pickleball is , or attracts . The pickleball community as a whole is immensely gracious and accepting of all different types and classes of people and abilities . That ’ s a big reason we play this sport in the first place : acceptance and belonging .
Pete Sampras has puked , broken down in tears , and overcome many emotions . Federer has wept . Nadal has talked openly about his anxiousness . Professional athletes have “ choked ” in the biggest moments , and it