How to overcome the fear of losing in sports

Many of us have a fear of losing in sports. Let’s learn how to overcome it.

What if my opponent turns out to be very strong?
What if I lose badly?
What if I embarrass myself?
What if I disappoint my parents, my coach, and my team?
What if I don’t perform well? And what if, what if, what if…
This can go on and on.

Your mind gets struck by these thoughts when you enter a battle ring. What actually these are, fear – right? Fear of if all the hard work is done goes in vain or any physical danger. See always remember we don’t have control over results we can just focus on our efforts, what results we will get is not in our control. So the point is you can’t always get what you want.

Does the fear of loss affect the actual performance? Yes! Fear of losing has a very strong presence that holds you back from reaching your true potential. That is why it is important to solve this issue. In this article, you will look at some signs of why a sportsman fears losing and what we can do to overcome that fear.

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Now, first of all, let’s look into why one fear of losing in sports:

1. Fear of embarrassment. You are afraid to embarrass yourself in front of others if you don’t perform well.

2. Fear of putting so much effort and not getting the payoff or not playing up to or not playing up to the mark. It is obvious you don’t want your hard work, talent, and so much practice to result in nothing. Right?

3. Fear of not performing up to the expectations of others. Expectations of your coaches, teammates, and most importantly you yourself.

4. Fear of losing respect and not being selected for further competitions.

5. Fear of not performing perfectly after practicing so hard and even fear of making mistakes.

6. Fear of disappointing and letting parents down and you definitely do not want to let your parents down.

7. Fear of negative feedback. You feel that others will view you as a failure in sports.

8. Sometimes we feel that the opponent will think that you are not good enough and will make fun of you. And you want to show your opponent that you are better.

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These are the signs that show your fear in sports, but these are not nonsolvable. There is a solution to every worry, every fear, every problem. If you want to be successful in sports or anything in life, you really need to get out of your comfort zone and start taking risks. The more you take risks, the more you go further in life.

Many of you feel terrified even with the thought of making a mistake in front of your teammates or coaches, which leads you to stay in your comfort zone and do as little as possible to avoid the embarrassment. So if you are not taking risks, this is also a sign of fear of losing. 

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See when you are afraid to do something, wait there, and try to understand where your fear is coming from. Are you not confident enough? Do you doubt your hard work or skills? The point you realize where the problem is, the half problem solved. Don’t worry. Be brave enough to face your fear. 

Below are some tips you can use to overcome your fear of losing in sports-

1. You need to pay more focus to performing efficiently instead of performing perfectly. If you put all your attention towards perfection you may end up taking more tension. You need to understand one thing, mistakes are a natural part of sports. Your ultimate goal should be to trust in your skills. So that you can play more freely and comfortably. Many times we are so worried about making mistakes but mistakes are very natural and everyone commits mistakes. No one is perfect and perfection is a myth.

So don’t get into the trap that I don’t have to make mistakes instead just work on what best you can do at the moment. If you want to overcome the fear of failure then you can read: How to overcome the fear of failure.

2. You should focus on success instead of worrying about failing. Many of you think more about not making mistakes than completing the match or any competition. You must set small goals in order to face this issue, this will help you to focus more on success.

We must have a positive mindset instead of a negative one, which means that we must focus on small success than thinking about failures. Let say if you are playing cricket just focus on each delivery and try to do your best in that delivery and try to score runs as a batsman. Don’t think that what if I get out and also not on that I have to make a century. Just focus on each delivery and try to best in that delivery. If you want to learn how to develop positive thinking then you can read: How to develop positive thinking.

3. One more step is to build your confidence. Without your confidence, you will never succeed or overcome your fear. It can be done in a number of ways, but most important is the use of optimism. Optimism can be used by you in different methods like self-talk or by coaches through praises and much more.

I have written one complete article on developing confidence. You can read that here: How to be confident.

4. Try to embrace the challenge. Or in better words, I would say welcome them with open arms. Tell yourself again and again that these are the feelings of a winner, these are the feelings that allow you to focus and maximize your potential by turning the thousands of hours of training into results. These are the feeling that you only get when it matters to you. When you really want it.

This is the attitude of the winner. The winner always thinks that he is going to win and loves challenges. You can read in detail how to develop a winning attitude.

5. Try to visualize. The point is to see yourself doing it perfectly. If you cannot make a clear image in your head and perform your skill perfectly. Then work harder or seek professional help. When you visualize, see yourself in all of your positive ways like being confident, energetic, optimistic, etc. Feel comfortable and relaxed. This will really help to calm you down. The better you visualize the better your results will be.

Visualization is a special technique that is used to generate positivism. If you want to know more tricks about how to overcome the fear of losing sports you can read: How to overcome the fear of losing a game.

And I would really like to mention one thing because I feel it is very important. Stop worrying about what others think. Understand why you care so much about other’s opinions. Check out whether you really need those things to be successful? No, right? Stop the mind-reading, focus on your current shot. Think about it how you really know what others are thinking about you? They are all your assumptions. You should know who you are and believe in who you are on the inside.

Keep in mind that it doesn’t matter what others think of you if you play for yourself.
Have self-respect and don’t think about other’s respect. Stop searching for respect or admiration from other people. You won’t need it if you have faith in yourself. 

And I would like to conclude by saying, look at the benefits of failure too. A sportsman never loses either it events or learns from it. Both are in your favor. Then why worry? Try to enjoy it. Failure creates an opportunity to learn and to grow, it doesn’t always have to be seen in a negative way. It should be taken as motivation for your next win. So what are you waiting for, go, and win…

After reading How to overcome the fear of losing in sports I am sure you would want to read how to overcome the fear of losing in a game:  https://sudarshanpurohit.com/how-to-overcome-fear-of-losing-a-game/

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