How to train your brain to handle pressure moments well

“If I lose the first point, the game is gone.”

That’s what one of my players said. So we made a plan:

Start every game at 0–15 in practice.

At first it was hard. The pressure felt big. So he kept losing. 

But he kept doing it. And eventually, he started winning more. And then winning consistently. 

That 0–15 situation stopped feeling like a pressure moment for him. It became normal and no longer caused panic.

Why? Because his brain had learned. 

When you face the same stressful situation again and again, it stops feeling new. It starts feeling familiar. And in a familiar situation, you know what to do.

This works for anything that makes you nervous on court. 

The tiebreak. The important service game. Being down against a lower-ranked player.

Think about the situations that make you anxious. Write them down. 

Then, instead of avoiding them, put yourself into this situation on purpose. As often as you can. 🙂

Pretty soon, your anxiety will decrease. Because it’s just another normal moment in a match.

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Now, that same player starts games from 0–30 in practice to train his brain even more.