Dealing with competition nerves

International show jumping rider and British Showjumping Coach Hannah Jackson shares her tips on dealing with those dreaded competition nerves.

Competition nerves are very common and happens to more people than you think, even the most experienced professional riders, so don’t feel that you are alone.

Here are some top tips to help deal with competition nerves that I found worked for me over the years.

Tip 1.

Try to prepare as best you can before a show to ensure that you are ready and you know what to expect. There’s nothing worse than being under prepared, or late and feeling stressed on the day as this will have a huge impact on your performance.

Things to consider:-

  • Arrive in plenty of time to assess the arena and get your bearings, especially if it’s your first time to the venue
  • Allow more time than you think you will need to walk the course and extra time to tack up before you are due to go in the ring
  • Watch other riders jump to ensure you know the course
  • Give yourself enough time to warm up
  • Try to read up on the rules for your BS competition, such as knowing if the class is A7 (separate jump off) or single phase, or how many refusals before you’re eliminated as this is different from unaffiliated.

Tip 2.

Do as much homework as possible at home so that you are ready for your competition and know what to expect. Practice jumping various distances, doubles and change it up, such as jumping an oxer five strides to a vertical, then swop it round.

Try to simulate a course and if you don’t have space at home maybe hire an arena with a course of jumps to practice course jumping, this should then help with your nerves and put you more at ease on the day as many people only have small arenas or don’t even have an arena to jump a course.

If you do have an arena or field to jump in, check out the 40 x 20m Jump Course or the Six Jump Course downloads which are available to EquiTeam members in Learn with EquiTeam.

Tip 3.

Get friends and family to come and watch you ride at home (or arena hires etc) as a lot of people get nervous when they are being watched and feel as if they are being judged.

Try and remember that everyone at the competition is in the same boat as you. People are not there to judge and everyone has good and bad days. We all know our horses are not machines so things can go wrong, but try not to worry what everyone else thinks as it is very likely it has happened to them too.

Tip 4.

Set realistic and achievable goals. Try to make your goals SMART. Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed. Clearly defined goals help to achieve success.

Use the EquiTeam Goal Setting download to help you think about your goals.

Tip 5.

Use relaxation techniques, these are helpful for reducing physical symptoms of stress and nerves, such as increased heart rate, tension and short breaths. These can be used on the day of the competition but also practice the day or evening before the event to help keep nerves at bay.

Tip 6.

Develop self confidence. This can be very difficult if you suffer with competition nerves. Try to look back at past successes and not just the failures and remember how it felt when you did well and what you did to get that success.

I hope these tips are useful with your competition nerves and that some of them may help you to achieve success.

Good luck, enjoy and always #believeinyourself

Hannah

If you enjoyed this article have a read of Hannah’s first EquiTeam blog; ‘How to know you are ready for your first BS competition’

And don’t forget to listen to Hannah’s EquiTeam podcast ‘Coaching Uncovered’

You can find out more about Hannah and follow her on Facebook.

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