Happy Friday! I hope you’re gearing up for a great hockey weekend — let’s get into this week’s Playbook.
One of the biggest misconceptions in sport is that elite athletes don't get nervous. Spend enough time around high-level players and you'll quickly discover the opposite is true.
They get nervous before big games. They get nervous before selections. They get nervous before tournaments.
They get nervous when the stakes are high and the outcome matters.
The difference isn't that they somehow eliminate those feelings. The difference is that they learn how to perform alongside them.
And that distinction is incredibly important because I see a lot of young athletes treating nerves as a problem that needs to be fixed.
In reality, nerves are often a sign that you're exactly where you want to be.
Over the years I've coached players preparing for World Cups, national tournaments, international matches, and college recruiting events.
I've yet to meet one who wasn't feeling something. Some felt excited. Some felt anxious. Some couldn't stop thinking about the game.
Others barely slept the night before. Almost all of them assumed they were the only one feeling that way.
They weren't.
The reality is that pressure is part of competitive sport.
In fact, if your goal is to keep improving as a player, the pressure usually increases rather than decreases. The games become bigger. The expectations become higher. The opposition becomes stronger.
The opportunities become more meaningful, and with all of that comes a certain amount of stress and uncertainty.
That's normal.
One of the most interesting things sports psychologists have discovered is that anxiety is often driven less by difficulty and more by uncertainty.
Think about what athletes typically worry about before competition.
Almost all of these concerns have one thing in common. They're focused on things we can't fully control.
The future. Other people. Outcomes. Judgments.
And the more attention we give those things, the more space anxiety has to grow. This is why so many elite athletes develop routines that help bring their attention back to the present.
Not because routines are magical.
But because they redirect focus toward things that are actually useful:
One of the reasons hockey is such a mentally demanding sport is that mistakes are unavoidable.
You are going to mis-trap balls. You are going to play bad passes. You are going to miss goal scoring chances. You are going to get beaten occasionally.
That isn't a reflection of your ability or your potential. It's simply the reality of playing a fast, complex game against good opposition.
The problem is that many players start trying to eliminate mistakes entirely.
They become cautious. They stop taking initiative.
They play not to fail rather than playing to succeed.
Ironically, this often creates the very performance issues they were trying to avoid in the first place.
Because hockey rewards decisiveness. It rewards courage.
The best players aren't fearless.
They're simply willing to act despite the possibility of failure. They will make a lead and show for a pass even though they could get tackled and lose the ball.
Another common misunderstanding is the belief that confidence comes first.
That once you become confident, performance follows. My experience has generally been the opposite.
Confidence is usually built through exposure.
Through preparation. Through repetitions. Through surviving difficult moments and realizing you can handle them.
In other words, confidence isn't built by avoiding nerves. It's built by repeatedly proving to yourself that you can perform while nervous.
That's why so many experienced athletes appear calm under pressure.
It's not because they never feel it.
It's because they've felt it hundreds of times before.
Every serious athlete wants the opportunity to play meaningful games.
They want championships. Selections. Big tournaments. Big moments.
What many don't realize is that those opportunities come bundled together with pressure.
You don't get one without the other.
Pressure creates nerves.
Nerves create discomfort.
And discomfort is often a sign that you're stretching your capabilities rather than staying safely inside them.
So the next time you feel nervous leading up to a game, don't immediately assume something is wrong.
Maybe your nerves aren't a warning sign. Maybe they're simply evidence that you care.
The goal isn't to eliminate them.
The goal is to learn how to play anyway.
Until next week,
Adam Falla
Co-Founder, Leap Hockey
Hi Adam,
It’s working!!!! Thanks for doing what you do. To Ross, too. Our girls are beginning to really apply their skills to the game & it was really evident this weekend. Everyone comments on their skills and I tell them it happens thanks to Leap & in our basement or messy toy room.
Just so grateful for this service that Leap provides as it makes field hockey much more fun for them!!