Eliad Adu ’26
Every student feels performance anxiety from tests, presentations, speeches, and essays, but student-athletes experience these nerves both in the classroom and on courts or fields. Each time they have a game, people are watching, and sports performance anxiety is not easy to overcome.
How do athletes get over this hurdle?
Sophomore Austin Love, an indoor track and field athlete, said “The nerves suck, but to improve you have to keep doing it.”
Austin feels like he has gotten slightly better at understanding how to deal with his anxiety over time due to his drive for improvement. He feels stressed about his races, but what helps Austin is realizing all he can do is train and then run.
“On the day of the meet, there’s nothing more I can do,” he said.
Austin’s understanding that he cannot control everything allows him to focus on the factors he can control, which helps him during races.
Both Sophomore Lawrence (Turk) Brown and Freshman Payton Grant wholeheartedly believe in their skills and do not feel nervous about being able to perform well.
Brown feels excited and “ready to win,” games because of the countless hours he has put into practice. Playing on JV in 8th grade helped him handle the varsity basketball level since he saw his future opponents first-hand and gained experience.
Grant also does not feel nervous and said, “I’ve gotten better at my physical performance so my confidence is better now.”
Unlike the previous athletes, junior Jessie Park does feel anxiety before her synchronized skating performances, but she overcomes these nerves with something called a mental tape.
In a mental tape, athletes focus on their emotions before games and why they feel that way. Then, athletes focus on feelings that counteract nervousness.
This activity is very helpful to Jessie because when she makes mistakes “it affects everyone, not just me. Mental tapes with her team help Park feel a comforting sense of unity while making her less nervous and slightly excited about her performance.
Sophomore basketball player AB Tsai-Turton tries to convert her nerves into energy and excitement.
“I take all my nervous energy and put that into my performance,” she said.
Basketball is the most-watched winter sport at St. Andrew’s, and AB feels that if she plays badly, that is how she will be remembered.
“It’s always important to give your best so people know your potential,” she said. “If you do have a bad day people will think, ‘she’ll get back up.’”
In her freshman year, AB asked to be taken off the court when subbed in during games because she was so afraid of underperforming in front of people, but now as a starter, it’s easy to see how much she has improved.
As advice to other athletes, AB said, “Don’t think about it just play,” and to focus on other people or things that make you happy like family or friends.