sports June 9, 2003 Issue

Beyond pre-performance stress

By Mark Swinney

IF YOU HAVE participated in sports, can you think back to one of your most successful and stress-free performances? Did it seem effortless? How confident did you feel? Probably you have found that feeling and playing stress-free doesn't always happen just because you hope it will. I have found that the best way to get on top of performance stress is to get on top of pre-performance anxiety.

In the days and hours before a performance, you can use a wonderful weapon—prayer—to eliminate anxiety. Prayer allows the power of God to permeate your thoughts and life. It helps you to act fearlessly and reason clearly. A prayerful, confident attitude before a performance carries forward to strengthen you during your performance.

It's good to address specifically what's behind pre-performance anxieties. Often, it's common for a person's whole identity to be associated with the sport he or she plays. For instance, when I played baseball in school, I remember my friends walking up to me. Instead of just saying hello, they'd inevitably ask, "How's baseball going?" I might hear that question two or three times in a day. After a few weeks of this, it would have been easy to believe that my whole identity and value as a person were tied to how well I could hit a baseball. Talk about pressure.

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