Parents Suggestion on calming the nerves before meet

[Xyredpoppy]

As the competition season concludes, my daughter had a somewhat good season. She's got all the level 4 skills, but at meets its always a hit and miss, she could be getting a high 37s in one meet but next one she will be so overwhelmed with nervousness and mess everything up. Her coach think skill wise she is ready and moving her to level 6 next year but any suggestions on helping her cope with the nervousness?

 

[Pfiga]

Congratulations to your daughter on her season! My daughter also tends to get nervous before meets but usually calms down by the time the meet starts. Here are some suggestions that have helped her:

1. The day of the meet, especially if the meet is in the afternoon, try to keep a consistent schedule as if it were a regular day. Breakfast/lunch should be what she usually eats. If she usually does another activity in the morning, make sure she does it. Or try to do something that will distract her from thinking about the meet - work on a craft project, build a Lego set or a puzzle, go for a walk, hang out with friends... anything but sit at home and stress about the meet!

2. Don't think of the meet as a "test" or "performance" of any sort. It's just a way to show where her skills are on that day. If she scores well, that's great, but don't make too big of a deal about it. If she falls and messes up and does not score as well, it's also not a big deal.

3. Related to that, we've spent a lot of time talking about judges, and the fact that judges are not there to criticize her. They want her to do well, and they are there to give her information about how her skills are going on that day, and what skills she should work on.

I have also found that much of her nervousness has to do with her confidence, and much of that has to do with experience competing. The more practice she gets competing, the more it will seem like competing is "normal."

I hope this helps! Good luck to your daughter, let us know how her next season goes!

 

[marym]

my daughter always used to get very nervous - she was working with someone to help with anxiety and build confidence - she and my daughter broke down how many hours she's spent training since she started competitive gym and how many hours she's trained this season - the purpose was to show her the massive amount of time she's spent training and preparing - once she saw that for some reason it really helped. Her mindset switched to I've spent thousands of hours training, I am ready and prepared and I can do this - she went out and absolutely crushed it in her next comp. Now she updates that list of hours before each comp and she keeps it her bag and looks at it before they start to remind herself that she's ready.

 

[Gymnastics15]

Pray!

 

[Milomom]

Is it only with gymnastics, or does the anxiety spill over for other areas? If it's more than just gymnastics, seeing a therapist or even her pediatrician to talk about options may be worth it. I had horrible public speaking/performing anxiety growing up and did not start to treat it until my 20s. I wish I got on medication sooner - being able to stop the physical symptoms from the anxiety helps so much.

My youngest gets a little anxious with meets and foundnthe Stick It Girl YouTube channel helpful