Some athletes get pre-competition anxiety so intense that they find it difficult to concentrate and even become nauseous. In some cases, the anticipation of these feelings may cause an athlete to avoid competing or even quit their sport.

These nervous sensations often locate themselves in specific areas of the body. Most common is muscle tension in the shoulders and neck, or the sensation of “butterflies in the stomach.”

In cases where your athletes suffer more than usual from pre-competition jitters, you can use the following “localized relaxation” technique to reduce their nervous symptoms.

Localized Relaxation Technique
This procedure is similar to “progressive muscle relaxation,” in which the muscle groups throughout the body are sequentially tensed,  then relaxed. However, in the localized technique, only the trouble spots are tensed and relaxed.

As a result, the technique can be applied very quickly, while the athlete is sitting, standing or even walking. Since closing the eyes and lying down isn’t required, it’s appropriate for the nervous minutes before competition or even during warm-up.

The technique should be combined with positive mental imagery. If your athletes are watching mental images of themselves performing successfully, negative worry-producing thoughts can be reduced.

Reducing Stomach Butterflies
Here’s how to apply the localized relaxation technique to an athlete with pre-competition anxiety.

1. Tell them to contact their stomach muscles as hard as they can for five seconds. If they want, they can simultaneously take a deep breath and hold it.
2. After five seconds, instruct them to relax their stomach muscles and exhale. Tell them to concentrate on the sensations of the stomach area expanding, relaxing, and becoming warm as the blood flows back into the muscles.
3. Repeat the contraction/relaxation steps 4-6 times. On each successive repetition, have them increase the amount of time they spend experiencing the feeling of relaxation.
4. After the fourth or fifth repetition, instruct them to imagine themselves successfully performing some aspect of their sport: for example, sinking a jump shot, spiking the volleyball, finishing fast in a race, etc.
5. Continue until the athlete says that their butterflies feel better.

You can use this technique in any of the areas that traditionally become tense during periods of stress: the stomach, shoulders, hands (trembling), back of the neck, etc.

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