Coach Mike, LPC, MPC
Nerves don’t have to disappear before you can play well. This two-minute reset, called Drop Anchor, uses breath, feet, and eyes to help athletes settle their bodies and put their attention back on the game.
Most of us were taught that the goal before a game is to get rid of the nerves. Get calm, get quiet, then go play. But if you’ve ever stood on the sideline, waiting for your name to be called, and felt your heart pound harder the more you told yourself to relax, you already know how that goes. Your nerves are not going to go away on command. The good news is you don’t need them to be gone to play well. You need them to stop controlling you for the next two minutes.
I’m a licensed professional counselor and a mental performance consultant, and most of my work with athletes happens in the gap between training and competition. That gap is where a lot of performance quietly falls apart. Pre-game nerves are one of the things athletes and parents ask about the most, and it tends to show up at the worst moment: right before the first serve, the opening whistle, or the first pitch. Pre-game nerves don’t mean an athlete isn’t prepared. They mean the body is doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing. What matters is whether the athlete has a simple tool for using that energy instead of getting consumed by it. That's the skill this post is about.
This section is part of the Action pillar of the PEAK Framework. Action is about choosing courageously, and in competition that starts with how you manage your attention when your body is telling you to run.
The myth: nerves have to disappear first
The idea that you have to feel calm before you can perform sets up a fight we may lose. When you focus on getting rid of the nerves, you’re monitoring and questioning them, which often makes them louder. When this happens, athletes tend to end up in a loop asking themselves, “why am I still nervous?” I shouldn’t be nervous. Now I’m more nervous.” The goal now switches from performing to having to control a feeling that you can’t switch off directly.
What’s happening in your body
When an athlete perceives high stakes, the sympathetic nervous system activates. Heart rate increases, muscles tighten, breathing becomes shallow and quick, and your attention narrows toward that perceived threat. That response is useful for us. It’s the reason we can react fast to a serve or sprint off the line when called on. The problem is that when this system runs on autopilot and it pushes out the focus we need to perform.
So what can we do then? Well, breathing and the nervous system are connected. A slow, controlled exhale, especially one longer than inhale, activates the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, which helps slow the heart rate and settle the body. When we take control of our breath, we can start making changes to this system in order to perform.
Arousal isn’t the enemy
Some activation helps performance. Too little and an athlete feels flat and unmotivated, too much and motor skills and decision-making start to slip. The goal before competition isn't to have zero nerves. It’s a level of activation that lets the athlete perform at their best with their attention where it belongs.
As a volleyball coach, I’ve seen this in my players before their serve. They may grip the ball tightly, scan the crowd, and even talk about their last missed serve or mistake they had in the last game. This would create those nerves and questions that can impact their performance. We didn’t try to make the nerves go away. We practiced one simple reset before arriving at the gym, during warm-ups, and the two minutes leading up to the serve. We worked on slowing the breath, feet finding the floor, and our eyes locked on a fixed point. This didn’t erase the feeling, it just made the moment before the serve stop feeling like a crisis.
We call this Drop Anchor. It is a three-part reset that takes about two minutes, and you can do it anywhere.
Breath. Inhale through your nose for a count of four. Exhale slowly through your mouth for a count of six or longer. Repeat five times. The longer exhale is key for this to have an effect.
Feet. Press both feet into the floor and notice where your weight sits. Shift until it feels balanced and centered. This brings attention into your body, instead of your head.
Eyes. Pick one fixed point at eye level, like something on the wall or a spot on the court. Hold your gaze and name what you see. This narrows your attention to something that is real and present instead of what-ifs and worries.
This week: Practice the full sequence once a day in a low-stakes moment, like at a red light, before getting on the bus, or right before dinner. Then use it before your next competition, at the same point in your routine each time.
If pre-game nerves keep getting in the way of the performance you’ve trained for, our individual mental performance sessions are built around exactly this kind of skill work. We’ll examine how pressure affects the body and attention and build a routine that fits your needs.
BOOK A MENTAL PERFORMANCE SESSION → https://m2performance.janeapp.com/