Mental Edge tips for overcoming an athlete's toughest opponent: fear

Fear is an athlete’s worst enemy.

Fear of losing, fear of failure, fear of being criticized, making mistakes, getting injured, or losing paralyze athletes.

What do you do to overcome theses fears?

Instructions, such as “Don’t be afraid” or “relax,” is too simplistic and doesn’t help most athletes…

When you are tight or afraid to make mistakes, for example, you can’t let it happen and get into the flow of the game. You judge your game and think too much about outcomes.

Your primary goal is to trust your athletic ability when you perform. Most result-oriented thinking by athletes leads to anxiety and playing scared.

In competition, you want to let yourself play. Let go of the fear and allow yourself to let it happen. Over-analyzing only makes matters worse, because you start to fill your mind with more thoughts than you can process at one time, And you begin to overthink everything.

Not thinking ahead and reacting during competition are the simple ways to let go of the fear. Keep your thinking and performance simple. Focus on what you have to do one play, routine, or run at a time!

Focus on performing freely and trusting your skills from practice. React instead of second-guess yourself.