Navigate the Pressure

Photo: by Abby Plevin

 Being a student athlete comes with a lot of roles and pressure that can affect you negatively. As a competitive person you are probably already someone who put pressure and standards onto yourself. On top of all the pressure you give to yourself you receive pressure from your family, coaches, team, and teachers having certain expectations for you. It is very important to learn about pressure and notice you are not alone or the only one who feels this way. Pressure is normal as a student athlete considering all the responsibilities you have. This post will talk about pressure and how it can affect you, but give you tips and tricks on how to cope with this feeling. 

1. Feeling pressure from yourself.

As athletes we create standards and goals for ourselves that if we don't reach can sometimes feel as a failure... but this is not true. I personally believe that there is no such thing as failure if you continue grinding and trying again. You can not fail anything unless you completely give up. Ways to not put as much pressure on yourself could be setting realistic small timeline goals. Make a goal for yourself for each week and focus win that one goal. This will make you feel the stratification of compelling your goal and reaching your standard for the week. Another way to cope with cutting pressure on yourself is staying mind and body breaks. Do you do anything to give yourself a mind and body break? I go to hot yoga and use that time to realize any tension I may have do to the pressure I am feeling. I would recommend you try hot yoga or some sort of meditation. 

2. Feeling pressure from outside factors such as coaches, teammates, family, and teachers. 

Coaches push you to the next level as strictly an athlete which causes performance pressure on you physically. Teammates may look up to you as a leader on the team which can add pressure to you emotionally. If you mess up or do something wrong whether that's playing the actual sport or off the court there is the feeling of letting down your team.  As a captain on my team in college I can say that feeling of pressure and messing up is very valid. When younger teammates look up to you and what you do its tough sometimes because you must remember there are always eyes on you and you do not want to let them down. And last family and teachers. Both are factors that may be very strict on you academically and add pressure onto your life when it comes to succeeding in school. 

More ways I would recommend navigating pressure as a student athlete would be manage your time, get support, and living with healthy lifestyle habits. Managing your time is very important and will allow you to prioritize each day what needs to be done and help relieve some of that daily pressure. Getting support is something most student athletes forget about, when everyone around is really there to help you. It is hard to remember that it is okay to have help from others and not to do everything on your own. Lastly like I mentioned earlier have a healthy lifestyle. Take time for yourself to mediate, give your body a break, and to clear your mind. So with all that information I hope you understand feeling pressure is normal and think of a way you may help relieve pressure for yourself going into your next athletic year?