No matter how much sports psychology you know, tryouts can still make you nervous. They can be ESPECIALLY nerve-racking if you have a new coach or team to “impress.”
But, nerves can be a positive thing IF you know how to make them work for you.
There’s actually a very easy way to do this using mental toughness. It’s called setting a GOAL for your try-out.
I know what you’re thinking. “Ew. That’s lame. It’s too simple to actually work.”
Stay with me here.
Just last week I talked to a goalie who was disappointed by his latest try-out.
GOALIE: “I really struggled in try outs – there were 12 goalies and 6 made it. I should have been able to get noticed more.”
LISA: “What do you mean?”
GOALIE: “I could have covered my angles more. People have told me that all season – to make sure I’m always following the puck and not the player.”
LISA: “If you DON’T follow the puck and you follow the player, what happens?”
GOALIE: “When I follow the player I’m too far back into my net – I’m almost on top of the goal line. When I follow the puck I push out and challenge.”
See, here’s the thing.
In try-outs, you’d never make a mistake intentionally.
It only happens because your AWARENESS of something is a little bit low. And when we’re having performance anxiety, our awareness usually goes down.
In my goalie’s case, his awareness of where he is in the net can get low. To correct it, he needs to follow the puck. This will immediately increase his self-confidence in sport.
At this point I asked him the obvious question: “Did you have a GOAL to follow the puck?”
I’m sure you can guess the answer: No.
To inspire you in goal-setting for try-outs, I rounded up some sports psychology advice for you from two world class athletes, former teammates of mine:
BARB BAUTISTA, Team Canada forward: “I get nervous when I have to play with players I don’t know at ringette tryouts, because I can’t predict what they’re going to do on the ice. So I make a special effort to talk to the new players until I’m comfortable with them.”
LAURA WARNER, former captain of Team Canada: “If I don’t know the coach, I’m pretty disciplined about making sure I’m doing the little things right, like marking the other centre. This takes my mind off what the coach is thinking. I get into the game and my nerves fade away.”
Using this simple sports psychology method, you can pull off a peak performance by getting in the zone before and during your try-out.