The Gift of Nerves: Why You Shouldn’t Try to Avoid Anxiety Before Competition

What If Anxiety Before a Match Isn’t a Problem?

The hidden gift behind pre-competition nerves

There’s a quiet epidemic in sports today — one that doesn’t make headlines, yet silently limits countless athletes.

It’s not burnout, not injury, not even pressure from rankings or parents. It’s fear of feeling nervous.

More and more players — even professionals — try to escape anxiety before competition. They avoid looking at their opponents, stay away from the draw, or distract themselves until the moment they walk on court. They say things like:

“I don’t want to know who I’m playing, it makes me anxious." “If I can just stay calm, I’ll play well.”

On the surface, this sounds harmless — even wise. But beneath it lies a dangerous misunderstanding about the nature of performance, courage, and human growth.

1. Anxiety Is Not the Enemy

What we call “anxiety” is often just aliveness misunderstood.

Before competition, your body is doing exactly what it was designed to do — awakening, sharpening, preparing. Your heart beats faster, your focus narrows, your senses heighten. That’s not danger. That’s readiness.

When we interpret that energy as something to fear, we call it anxiety. When we interpret it as fuel, we call it excitement.

The goal is not to get rid of nerves, but to change your relationship with them. The greatest competitors don’t avoid nervousness — they learn to play with it.

2. Avoidance Strengthens Fear

When a player refuses to see their opponent or avoids the draw, they teach their nervous system:

“This situation is dangerous. I can’t handle it.”

Each act of avoidance makes the fear stronger next time. It’s like feeding a wolf that grows larger in the dark.

Avoidance offers short-term comfort, but long-term weakness. Courage grows through exposure — by walking toward what scares you, not away from it.

3. Clarity Creates Calm

Many players think their anxiety is emotional. But often, it’s rooted in a lack of clarity.

If you don’t truly know your own game — your weapons, your patterns, your plan under pressure — the unknown feels dangerous. You can’t trust what you haven’t defined.

Legendary coach Brad Gilbert kept a notebook of notes on opponents. Not to obsess, but to anchor himself in clarity. Preparation created confidence. Knowledge quieted noise.

“I know who I am. Let’s play.”

4. Emotion Follows Preparation

Emotional stability doesn’t come from avoiding pressure. It comes from trusting your process.

You need emotional readiness, yes — but also tactical clarity, physical sharpness, and spiritual grounding. When those are in place, the mind calms naturally. When they’re not, even small challenges feel overwhelming.

Train your nervous system, not just your strokes. Build a foundation so deep that nerves can shake but not move you.

5. The Pre-Match Ritual: Ground, Clarify, Embrace

A simple centering practice:

Ground: Feel your feet. Take two long breaths.

“I am here. I’m ready to compete.”

Clarify: Recall your plan.

“This is how I win points. This is how I adjust.”

Embrace: Welcome the nerves.

“This energy is my ally. Let’s go.”

Takes less than 3 minutes. Transforms how you walk onto the court.

6. Practices to Transform Pre-Match Anxiety

These practices aren’t about silencing anxiety — they help you meet it wisely and use it as fuel.

1. Name it without shame.

“Ah, this is anxiety. I feel it in my chest, my stomach, my breath.”
Naming creates awareness. Awareness creates space. Space allows choice.

2. Breathe like a champion.

Try box breathing:
4 seconds inhale → 4 seconds hold → 4 seconds exhale → 4 seconds hold. Repeat 4–6 rounds.
This calms the nervous system and grounds your energy.

3. Feel your feet. Ground your body.

Stand tall. Feel the floor. Let your awareness drop into your legs and breath.
This moves energy from the busy mind to the rooted body.

4. Shift from fear to purpose.

Instead of “What if I fail?” ask:
“What do I want to bring?” “What kind of energy do I want to embody?”
Anxiety fades when purpose steps in.

5. Let the butterflies fly in formation.

Don’t resist the energy — align it.
Say to yourself: “This is fuel. I am ready.”

7. We Are Not Weaker — Just Untrained in Discomfort

Today’s athletes don’t have more anxiety than past generations. We’re just less practiced at sitting with discomfort.

Modern life has made comfort too available. But discomfort is the gym where champions are built.

To compete well is to love discomfort — to see challenge as teacher and nerves as the sacred tremor of being alive.

8. The Real Goal: Capacity, Not Calm

The best athletes aren’t those who never feel nervous. They’re the ones who can feel everything — and still play freely.

Don’t train to eliminate fear. Train to hold more life.

That’s the path of the warrior, the artist, the competitor.

In the end, competition is not about avoiding anxiety. It’s about remembering who you are when anxiety visits — Meeting the moment fully awake, heart open, ready to give your all.

The trembling before a match is not weakness. It’s the soul whispering,

“Something beautiful is about to happen.”