Thriving Under Pressure

Thriving Under Pressure

““I want to see how far I can go, I want to see what I can accomplish, I want to see what I can

do, what I can be, what I can have. I want to see. I don’t want to see what I think I can do, I

don’t want to see what I think is possible, I want to see what my life would look like if I didn’t

count the cards, and if I was willing to go further than anyone else is willing to do if I had the

mentality, so I woke up, and here I am.”

The way athletes deal with pressure is the key to using pressure situations positively. Learning to

respond well in a pressure situation will be an invaluable tool for athletes. The most important

concept in dealing with pressure is to start with the realization that there is no such thing as

competition pressure, except what you make of it in your mind. Pressure isn’t something that

happens to us, it is something that is manufactured by our own thinking. Aside from the physical

pressure exerted on one opponent by another on the court, pressure in the competitive context

isn’t real, it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t have a form, a color, a smell. Pressure is simply how we

perceive the situation we are in. Athletes need to learn this, because once they understand that

pressure is something they create, then they also understand that pressure is; therefore,

something they can control. By controlling their responses to pressure situations, athletes learn to

take them in their stride.

Pressure only exists if you are concerned about the outcome. Playing a scratch match and playing

in the national finals are exactly the same thing! It’s still the same ball, the same strategies, the

same rules, nothing has changed in terms of how you play the game. So approach pressure

situations as though they are practice matches. Train your mind to stay in the present and let the

outcome take care of itself. Learn to practice at the same level you compete at. Your best

possible