How Nervousness can Help you Wrestle Better

The way I see it, you can look at nervousness one of two ways.

1- Nervousness means I am under pressure, afraid, shaky, etc.

2- Nervousness means I am spirited, full of adrenaline, human, focused, etc.

Great wrestlers and competitors perceive nervousness as the latter. They look at it from a positive light, as something that makes them stronger, faster, and sharper.

This past fall we asked a bunch of top wrestlers and coaches about their Mental Edge when they competed. All American Darren Schulman said his Mental Edge is that he knew he would wrestle his best in matches/tournaments because he had extra adrenaline. Cael Sanderson said that he and other great wrestlers looked at prematch nervousness as being spirited and ready to go.

We all feel some nervousness before a match. Heroes and cowards have the same feelings/emotions. They simply perceive them and act differently. Both the hero and the coward feel nervous as they contemplate running into a burning building. The coward likely perceives the nervousness as fear and doesn’t approach the building. The hero may perceive these nerves as adrenaline or simply normal BUT acts anyway and runs in.

The bottom line- you have a choice. Perceive the nervousness as pressure and fear OR perceive the nervousness as being human, spirited and full of adrenaline. The choice is yours!