How do you stop nerves getting the better of you when that big competition you’ve been training for arrives? We ask the experts

You have left no stone unturned and are as physically and mentally as prepared as you will ever be for competition. But what happens on the day of the event? How do you cope with the pressure and adrenaline pulsing through your system and will it be kept in check to power your performance or will it prove to be your undoing?

Annie Vernon, a former rower who won an Olympic silver and two world gold medals, describes the intensity and anxiety of pre-competition as unlike any other feelings.

“It’s the bit you live for as an athlete, and the bit you fear like none other,” writes Vernon in her book Mind Games: An Insider’s Guide to the Psychology of Elite Athletes. “It’s like sitting you’re A levels and degree final exams, interviewing for your dream job, getting married, meeting the queen, appearing on the final of The Great British Bake-Off all on the same day. It’s exhausting and stressful beyond imagination.”

Some stress is essential for performance. But it’s a delicate balance – too much or too little can tip the balance away from being at your best. “We don’t actually want to completely lose our nerves before competition,” says sports psychologist Dr Josephine Perry, author of I Can: The Teenage Athlete’s Guide to Mental Fitness (Sequoia). “Nerves suggest we care about our performance, which is a good thing, but they also help us to get body and brain primed for action.”

Here we ask the experts how best to steady those nerves and rise to the occasion.

Take time to hone your preparation plan

Don’t expect to reduce pre-competition anxiety overnight. In order for any approach to be effective, it needs to be evaluated and tested by you. It takes time.

“It took me years to discover my optimum arousal which suited me as an individual, as well as the demands of my sport,” says Vernon. “In the early part of my career the nerves would start days before my race and I’d be unable to eat or sleep or think clearly.”

The first step towards improvement, she says, was recognising it wasn’t helping her performance and to self-experiment with a different mindset that did.

Eventually she developed her personal plan that outlined everything she should be doing, thinking and feeling prior to a race so that it left her no room to be nervous.

“It meant that if at any time my brain wanted to be quaking I wouldn’t let it because I would stick to my regimented plan,” she says. “Think about every possible element of your preparation – food, kit, drink, travel – and address it in advance. Find what works, and what doesn’t, for you.”

Create a performance playlist

Music can have a profound impact on performance, as shown in studies by Costas Karageorghis, a professor in sport and exercise psychology and head of Brunel University London’s Sound and Vision Innovations group.

“We have shown evidence that music affects psychological responses such as self-confidence and motivation,” Karageorghis says. It must be music that works to motivate you, however, so create your own playlist of inspirational tunes to listen to before training and competition.

Create a pre-performance bubble

Stress prior to a competition can become overwhelming unless you learn to control it. Perry says the best way to deal with it is to create your own imaginary pre-performance bubble inside which you are protected against the behaviour of other athletes and the pressure you might feel from friends and family.

“Top athletes in very big competitions will often go inside a bubble for one to two days, but for most competitions it will likely be just a few hours,” she says. “It is a time to think about your ideal build-up.”

Try a physical boost

If you are feeling indifferent towards a competition or are over-nervous as you line up, you need to heighten your level of activation so that you are primed to compete. “Sometimes physical action helps so you can try a short jog or bouncing up and down on the spot or tapping your legs,” says Perry.

This worked for Vernon in the hours before competition, too. “Little things made the difference,” she says. “If I felt the nerves starting to rise in my stomach, I would slap my legs, talk to a team-mate, or do something else to ground me.”

Deep preparatory breaths help some athletes. “Repeat the phrase ‘energy in, tiredness out’ to yourself as you do this,” Perry says. “Or just think about something very strong and powerful that will also ramp you up.”

Fake confidence

Real confidence in your ability and performance will come with progression and experience. Once you have self-confidence it blocks out the anxieties that can result in your performing below par.

But it takes time to grow confidence and scientists believe that faking confident behaviour can be beneficial in the meantime.

“If you behave and act as if you are confident, you can begin to feel more confident,” says Perry. “Adopt a power pose of holding your head high, chest forward, thinking tall and wide as you prepare to compete.

“The way you hold yourself, even the clothes you wear, can make you seem more powerful to your opponents,” she says. “It gives a performance advantage and lowers stress levels.”

Remember that even Olympic finalists get nervous…

Elite athletes and Olympic finalists get as nervous for their event as they probably did prior to their sports day.

“They have not managed to have these kinds of emotions removed; they are not automatons, they are human beings,” Vernon says. Four-time Olympic champion Matthew Pinsent never managed to shake his nerves, but nor did he want to.

“I would justify it in my own head by thinking this is what I need to feel like, this is normal,” he told Vernon. “You’ve done all the training and preparation, don’t let it get away from you because of the way you feel right now. This is your opportunity, this is your shop window.”