You might be surprised by how many athletes come to performance work because they have been feeling more anxious in practice than they have in games. At first, this can be hard to understand, especially for the athlete. Practice is supposed to be the place where athletes can be free to learn, improve, and make mistakes. But for many young athletes, practice can become the place where they feel most watched, corrected, compared, or fearful of disappointing someone.

Practice can sometimes feel emotionally unsafe for the player. And if this can be the case, why wouldn’t games feel emotionally unsafe, as well? The difference lies within the inherent movement and momentum of games. During a game, the whistle blows, the pitch is thrown, the play unfolds, and the athlete reacts. In those moments, an athlete has less time to monitor themselves and a heightened ability to access their instincts and the present moment - their body knows where to go and their timing feels available. They are not thinking through every part of the movement, they are simply in it.

Practice may involve more correction, more stopping and starting, more repetition, and more time to think about what is not working. A missed shot, wild throw, or bad rep may not feel like one mistake, it may start to feel like evidence: evidence that something is wrong, that the player is falling behind, or that the player is disappointing their teammates, coaches or parents. Instead of asking, “What am I learning?” the athlete may begin asking, “What is wrong with me?” When practice becomes less about learning and more about proving things, the body can lose access to a sense of flow and freedom. The nervous system may start preparing less for performance and more for protection.

When practice feels like judgment, the nervous system often chooses protection over performance. The amygdala may interpret things like correction, comparison, or disappointment, as threats. The hippocampus may connect the present moment to older memories of injury, embarrassment, criticism, or shame. The body then often responds quickly: muscles guard themselves, breathing tightens, timing changes, and the athlete may rush, freeze, overthink, or shut down.

This is why I often ask athletes questions beneath the obvious performance concern: Who are you performing for? Who are you afraid to let down? When did this pressure first start to feel familiar? What does your body remember about being watched, corrected, injured, or embarrassed? These questions are not about blame; they are about listening to what the athlete’s nervous system may still be carrying.

Just as important, I want to know where the athlete feels free. Who helps you feel like yourself whether you succeed or struggle? Who corrects you without making you feel small? Who allows you to play with joy? The nervous system does not only remember fear. It also responds to safety, connection, rhythm, and trust.

Brainspotting can help athletes work beneath their layers of overthinking and access where pressure is held in the body and nervous system. Even simple self-Brainspotting practices can help an athlete first notice where they feel most calm, steady, or grounded in their body. From there, they can allow their eyes to slowly track until they find a fixed eye position that seems to help them feel that calm or grounded feeling even more. The goal is not to force the body to relax, but to give the nervous system a place to settle and listen.

The goal is not to remove the pressures of challenge from sport - challenge matters. The goal is to help athletes feel safe enough to learn, adapt, and perform. Practice anxiety gets worse when practice becomes less about learning and more about proving things. When we understand that, we can help athletes return not only to performance, but to themselves.