Manage Game-Day Jitters with These Sports Psychologist-Approved Tips

The lights are on, the stands are full of screaming fans and the championship trophy is on the line – but what about the dizzying nerves churning in your stomach?

Jitters before a big game like this weekend’s Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference state football championships is not unusual, even for athletes who have played for years.

“When the mind knows that there is an important upcoming event, the body will start to prepare itself by activating the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system becomes active in intense situations that involve anger, fear, excitement and/or physical activity. This system mobilizes resources to get the body ready to act,” says Peter Lucchio, PsyD, a clinical psychologist who works with athletes at Hartford HealthCare’s Bone & Joint Institute.

“In essence, jitteriness is the body letting an athlete know that this game matters and it’s getting ready to perform. Misinterpreting these sensations as weakness or lack of preparedness can be problematic.”

Read his tips here.