My Childhood Performance Anxiety

I started Judo in 1973 and took to it like a duck to water. After about a year, I was in the junior team, representing the club at competitions around the Midland Area and, on occasion, in other areas of the country.

I loved Judo and could hold my own against all in the club and against those who visited our club within my weight category. Within a few years, I was training 5 nights a week and Judo took up most of my weekends with Judo competitions or gradings.

My problem was that I suffered from what I know now to be Performance Anxiety. I would shake, be sick and make endless visits to the toilet. I did not lose all my competitive fights; I won many, but never enough to get a medal.  

From 1973 to 1980, representing my club, I never got a single medal; my instructors/coaches would say things like he is a nervous kid, he will grow out of it, or it’s just how he is.

Back in the mid to late 1970s, my coaches and instructors did not understand performance anxiety and knew little about sports psychology.

I had the physical ability, techniques and skills to succeed in Judo but not the understanding or the ability as a child to control my emotions.

I know what performance anxiety feels like, and now, as an adult, I realise what I have missed out on in Judo. I had great Judo coaches and instructors, many of whom were champions and some represented Great Britain.

As an adult, I have learned so much about my emotions and how to manage them and use them to better myself. I have stood up in front of my peers, members of the public, military personnel, police officers instructors and I have delivered training in six countries.  

Let me help you overcome your Performance Anxiety and Fear.

Sports hypnosis, sometimes referred to as mental training through hypnosis/hypnotherapy, is a method that many athletes use to improve their performance and overcome their emotional and mental barriers.

Some of the many benefits of using sports hypnosis include,

Improved Mental Focus: Which means you can improve your game by achieving a higher concentration and focus than your normal state. Benefits of this include better reaction times, improved decision-making and overall performance in training and competition.

Improved Confidence: Hypnosis is a great way to increase self-confidence and self-esteem, especially following an unwelcome outcome or an injury when you may doubt yourself and your abilities. Hypnosis has proven effective in helping athletes regain form and increase their emotional and mental wellness.

Stress Reduction: Hypnosis has a documented and proven track record as an effective way to help you develop your ability to relax and manage your overall stress, nerves and performance-related issues.

You can apply skills that you have been taught in sessions to your everyday life. Learn to stay calm under pressure and ways to control and change emotions when needed.

Overcoming Mental Blocks: Sports hypnosis is a beneficial and proven way to assist you in identifying and overcoming mental barriers or performance obstacles that can hinder and hold back your ability to achieve your full potential.

Hypnotherapy addresses the underlying issues that you have, such as fears that can include a fear of failure, a fear of success or issues around past traumas. It can help with breakthroughs in performance, releasing negative blocks and other less-than-positive emotions and habits.

Mental Rehearsal/Visualisation Skills: These powerful tools help athletes (or anyone else) rehearse movements, strategies and outcomes within their minds. Hypnosis uses the power of your mind to enhance your ability to visualise success.

These skills allow you to see yourself within your mind, performing at your best and achieving your desired outcomes.

Increased Motivation and Goal Setting: Sports Hypnosis is a great way to help you discover and clarify your goals, identify barriers that may be holding you back from success and strengthen your desire and motivation to achieve those goals.

Hypnosis helps you to align your subconscious mind with your desired outcomes while staying committed to your training program, helping you maintain a positive mindset throughout your sports journey.

Faster Recovery from Injuries: Evidence-based studies have shown that using hypnosis can help speed up the healing process in athletes and help diminish/reduce the perception of pain in those recovering from injury.

For athletes recovering from sports injuries, hypnosis works well with their physical rehabilitation by fostering better relaxation, diminishing/reducing inflammation and building mental resilience during recovery.

Performance Consistency: You can enhance your mental resilience and performance consistency by regularly using sports hypnosis.

By developing a positive mindset, athletes can manage their emotions better and more effectively and stay focused on their performance goals; they can achieve greater consistency in their training and competition results.

Using Sports hypnosis, you can enhance your emotional and mental skills. It is a proven way of helping you overcome obstacles, control your state and optimise your overall performance in training and competition.

Using sports hypnosis in your training programme can unlock your full potential and improve performance in your respective sports.

Athletes' mental training, also known as mental preparation or the mind game, is the psychological side of sports. Training your mind is vital in enhancing an athletes overall performance and success.  

We all know that physical training and skill development are essential in sports. Many athletes do not know, forget or choose to ignore that the mind is equally significant in determining one's ability to excel in a chosen sport.

Here are some reasons why athletes need to focus on their mental game.

Helping you achieve a balance between mind and body.

1. Performance Under Pressure: High-pressure situations such as competitions, team selections/tryouts, or championships, happen daily in sports. Training in Sports Performance Mind Coaching and Sports Hypnosis helps you stay focused and better manage your stress and performance when needed.

2. Confidence and Self-belief: Many athletes worldwide use mental training to enhance their confidence and self-belief. This has also been proven by research.

Believing in yourself and your abilities is critical for an athlete. Practising mental training skills leads to better performance in your sport, improved determination and the courage to accept life's challenges.

3. Focus and concentration: Focusing during training and competition is essential for success. Techniques learned in mental training help you improve your ability to concentrate, stay focused on the task at hand and avoid/reduce distractions.

4. Visualisation and goal-setting: You can use the power of your mind through mental imagery and visualisation techniques to rehearse successful performances in your mind. Goal-setting and visualisation help you stay motivated and help to create a roadmap for achieving your objectives.

5. Resilience and coping with setbacks: Sports are often unpredictable and anything can happen. Athletes frequently face disappointment, setbacks and other less-than-positive outcomes in sports. Learning and practising these mental training skills is a beneficial and positive way to help you develop resilience, recover from a loss or another sporting disappointment and maintain a positive mindset.

6. Managing Your Emotions: Sports bring out many emotions in athletes, such as excitement, frustration, fear, anger or anxiety. Managing your emotions and feelings can prevent them from negatively impacting your performance.

7. Team Dynamics: Mental training benefits individual athletes and helps improve team dynamics. When athletes are mentally prepared and supportive of each other it leads to better communication, understanding and teamwork. Mental training helps to enhance the possibility of a positive outcome for the team and everyone's enjoyment of the sport

8. Recovery from Injury: Using mental training skills has been proven to be very effective in aiding injury recovery, helping athletes maintain a positive outlook, better rehabilitation and visualising a positive return to the sport.

9. Reducing performance anxiety: Many athletes experience performance anxiety which can hinder their abilities. As a child, I suffered from this and although I loved my sport, I would go to pieces in competitions. Mental training techniques can reduce anxiety, allow athletes to perform better and help them get into their "flow."

10. Lifelong skills: The Mental skills learned in sports and developing a favourable sports mindset will serve you well in various aspects of your life outside of sports. What you learn through having the right attitude and perspective as an athlete will serve you well throughout life.

As a former competitive Judoka and a martial arts instructor since the mid-1980s, I understand the importance of focusing on the mental aspects of development that complement an athletes physical training.

Sports Performance Mind Coaching & Sports Hypnosis provide a beneficial and comprehensive approach to helping you improve performance and maximise your potential.