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LJ's Tips: Pressure and Nerves

By L-J Anjema © Feb 8, 2006 Laurens-Jan Anjema and SquashTalk LLC

This time I’d like to talk about how to deal with pressure and nerves during a tournament or before an important match.

About three years ago, when I turned pro and started playing tournaments, I sometimes had the feeling I lost some matches I should have won because pressure and nerves got the better of me. I thought too much of the consequences of the result, of the opinion of other people and I couldn’t play freely when I was on court. That’s when I went to my coach Neil Harvey and he taught me this very valuable lesson:

“You have to be completely relaxed to give yourself the chance of playing the best you can”.

Obviously that’s easier said then done but apart from some personal habits of mine, which I’ll get into later in this article, I think a good preparation is the key to feeling confident and relaxed. A good preparation results in confidence. Confidence and ‘feeling relaxed’ go hand-in-hand. Confidence and ‘feeling relaxed’ beat nerves.
A good preparation includes: training towards the tournament for a longer period of time, playing practise matches, doing fast explosive ghosting, eating, drinking and sleeping well, making travel arrangements well in time etc etc.

It basically includes all the things you have control over. What about the things you can’t control? You guessed right! Don’t worry about them and certainly don’t waste energy over them.

Here are some things I pay attention to during a tournament or before an important match.

1) “Get away from squash”.
When I stay in a hotel during a tournament, I make sure I share my room with someone I get on with well. This, for me, is someone who’s in for a laugh and doesn’t talk about squash all the time. During a tournament, in my hotel, I’d like to get AWAY from squash as much as possible so that, WHEN I play, I’m mentally hungry and eager. I certainly don’t want to hang out at the club all day.

2)   “You have to feel comfortable and at home when you play a tournament”.
So, a very simple piece of advice: re-create your home environment where-ever you are. For example, I’m quite neat and tidy at home so I do the same in my hotel room on the other side of the world. I unpack my bag, put all my match shirts together in the closet, my training shirts in the drawer, my shorts here, my socks there etc. That’s the way I do things at home so that’s the way I do things during a tournament far away from home.

On the same account, if you are messy and disorganised at home, make a mess of your hotel room aswell (without ruining the hotel property…). I’m not joking. Try it and you’ll see you’ll feel comfortable.

3) “Don’t think about your match till one hour before you go on court”.

I try not to think about my match till one hour before my game. Instead, I try to relax. I have a chat and a laugh with my roommate, maybe call some family and friends, read a book or watch a movie. Those are easy ways to kill time and make you feel good.

Then, with one hour to go, I start thinking about my game, my opponent, his weaknesses, my strengths and I start to visualise the way I’m going to play. I make sure I do my normal routine before my match (iPod, drink water, watch the match before me on my court). Then, when you’re on court, you’ll feel relaxed and eager to play at the same time!

4) ‘Break the rulebook’.

Only YOU know how you feel and how you want to feel. Think about it, this is actually something you can control.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with your preparation and pre-match routine. The stuff which helps me to get over my nerves, maybe (and probably) won’t help you.

For example, as a young player I had been reading and listening to the greats about their 45 minute warm ups etc. Well guess what? I don’t like to come on court all sweaty and breathing heavily! I want to do a lil’ bit of stretching, a few jumps and that’s it!

In the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who told you to do things a certain way, YOU are the one on court and YOU have to feel good. So, experiment!

I hope you’ll find your way

3rd of February 2006, Chingford, Essex

Laurens Jan Anjema: PSA Ranking 3-1-2007: #21 Audio Interview His website (www.princelj.com)

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