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Overcoming competition anxiety

The Zen Grappler
Jan 4, 2018
4 min read

Competing in sport at any level can be a stressful experience regardless if it's your first competition or your 100th.

Sadly on the day of competition nerves and stress can take over your body and your mind. This can make it hard to concentrate on the task at hand and can even negatively impact your performance in competition.

I competed in my first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition in February of 2017 and my anxiety definitely got the better of me. I had knots in my stomach, I felt sick and I could barely concentrate on the matches - the second the ref said 'combate" I wanted the ground to swallow me up and I thought i was going to puke EVERYWHERE (thankfully for myself and my opponent this didn't happen!).

I didn't win any of my matches that day and I was devastated. Putting so much pressure on ourselves is natural, especially in competitive settings, but this can lead to unnecessary anxiety and stress. It is so important to understand how to control this anxiety/stress in order to perform to the best of your ability.

I am talking from experience of competing in Brazilian Jiujitsu but all of the methods discussed are transferable to other sports and can even work in non-competition scenarios such as public speaking or exams.

Please remember that anxiety is going to be a part of competing. Anxiety does not need to be a hinderance it just shows that you care about your performance and hopefully securing the win, BUT winning is not the be all and end all. You can learn more from one lost match than six months of training. Losing is a part of competing and will expose holes in your game and areas of weakness that you need to work on to improve your jiujitsu.

1. Control your breathing

One thing that you can take control of before your match is your breathing. It is so important to be conscious of your breath and how this affects you.

I have found that through yoga I have become more conscious of my breath and this has helped me better "centre my breath" when I start to feel anxious before each match. Using the technique of "Centring Breath" can help to regulate your breathing and it gives you something to focus on beside the competition and all of the stimulus around you. So, how do you centre your breath?

1. Find a comfortable sitting or standing position - try to lean against a wall to ensure your body is supported. Close your eyes and tense all of the muscles in your body including your face. Then consciously relax all of the muscles in your body.

2. Start with a long breath in through your nose and fill your lungs starting at 50%, 80% and then full capacity . Exhale through your mouth with a sigh expelling all of the breath in your lungs (you might feel a bit silly but if it helps your pre-competition jitters you'll get over it!).

3. Repeat this as many times as you feel you need to control your breathing and to centre your thoughts.

Just like any technique centring your breath is something that you must practice daily. You can do it standing in the shower, watching TV and even walking on a treadmill. Being aware of your breath and how to control it can lead to reduced heart rate and better concentration during competition.

2. Self-Talk

Something that affects our everyday life not just our performance in competition is our self talk - everything your consciously and sub-consciously thinking to yourself every single day.

it is important that you are thinking positive thoughts about the competition and yourself.

if you have a tendency to think negative/toxic thoughts you can combat this by consciously thinking words such as "STOP" and "NO". Then replace these negative thoughts with positive thoughts.

For Example;

Negative thought = "Last time I fought this girl she beat me on points."

Positive thought = 'The last match with this girl was challenging but I believe in my jiujitsu and myself."

You can also wear a band/bobble around your wrist and ping it (gently please!) whenever you start to think something negative and unproductive.

Writing down positive affirmations and going over them in your mind on a daily basis can be helpful for influencing your self-talk and pushing it in a positive and productive direction.

Again this is a technique that should be practiced daily.

3.Music

Before competition I find it helpful to listen to music. My favourite pre-competition song to listen to is Nicki Minaj's verse in Monster - it makes you feel like you could slay a dragon!

Putting together a motivational playlist to listen to whilst driving to the competition, after weigh-ins when you're waiting around for your bracket to be called and just before you step on the match can help to centre your thoughts and get your fired up for the match.

I hope these techniques can help centre you and control your nerves before competition!

Have a wonderful day,

The Zen Grappler x

References

Walker, Stephen (2007) "The Centring Breath - Control Pre-Competition Stress" [online] Available from <http://www.podiumsportsjournal.com/2007/04/15/controlling-arousal-the-centering-breath/> [4th Jan 2018]