Dealing with the pressure of practicing sports
You enjoy being part of a team or maybe you prefer to do a sport where you participate alone, but there is a lot of pressure on you to perform well. You can put this pressure on yourself or it can come from other people, but at the end of the day you do not want to disappoint or it make you very nervous.
Some kids prefer to just do sport or exercise for fun, but once you are in competition with others, you may feel pressure. Competition can be good, because it can teach you to handle situations and deal with winning or loosing, but sometimes your coach or parents can expect so much from you that the competition can make you feel bad.
It is not nice to loose, but it is part of life. If you compete against someone else or another team only one of you can win and you will have to deal with the fact that you may be the one who looses.
Before we start a game or a competition we may get nervous and feel like there are 'butterflies' in our stomach, and that is okay because even professionals get that nervous feeling before the time. It is because your body is giving off 'adrenaline' which gives you a feeling of excitement and can also help you do better in your sport, put if you feel like you cannot breathe or you feel bad and that the pressure is just to much you will have to figure out what it is that makes you feel that way.
You need to get ways in which you can deal with the pressure you feel before competing. A very important thing is that you get enough sleep the night before. That will also help you to have enough energy.
Do not go and take place in a competition if you did not eat and find a way in which you can calm yourself. Take some deep breaths, or listen to music or walk around by yourself. Find the one thing that calms you down and gets you focused on what you have to do.
It is also nice to stay with your team and have a special bond with them, listen to the captain or coach speak and cheer one another on.
BUT
If you never feel excited to take part in sport or be part of a team and it makes you feel sad or anxious to a point that you just not enjoy it, you need to speak to your parents or coach. Some adults can put a lot of pressure on kids and in the process not make them feel good.
It is good to push yourself and want to do good, but too much pressure can make you feel like a failure or never teach you that you best is good enough, even if you do not win.
Be in competition with yourself. If you feel your parents or coach expects too much from you, let them know that you can only do your best but you are not yet ready to reach the goals they set and they will have to give you some space and time to develop and better yourself.
If you do not like sport at all and you prefer 'shooting hoops' in your back yard or riding your bike by yourself, talk to your parents and let them know that being part of a team does not make you happy.
We are not all built to take part in sport, but we can still be active by doing things that makes us happy in doing.
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