Five Ways to Ruin Your Game Day Performance

Arrows missing the mark

Every athlete wants to show up on game day feeling confident and prepared. But despite their best efforts, this isn’t always the case.

Most game day struggles are not random. They’re predictable. Athletes tend to sabotage themselves in the same handful of ways – habits that slowly chip away at the ability to successfully meet the moment.

Here are five of the most common traps athletes fall into and why they derail performance.

1. Overthinking Yourself Out of Your Strengths

If you want to play tight and tentative there’s no better strategy than trying to force yourself to play perfect. Thinking while playing is ineffective – they go together like oil and water! Overanalyzing mechanics and obsessing about playing perfectly turn athletes into overly cautious versions of themselves. 

How does this affect performance?

The brain moves from free-flowing and automatic to assessing and analyzing the environment. Performance immediately suffers. (If you want to experience this feeling, watch a how-to video and try to teach yourself a new physical skill in real time. It’s rough – especially if trying to teach yourself how to air walk…)

The best athletes trust their preparation and existing skill set. They play with what they’ve got today, not with what they want today. Less thinking, more doing. To play more consistently, athletes should take their hands off the wheel instead of trying to steer it to perfection. Let it fly!

2. Trying to Control Everything

Pressure and frustration skyrocket when athletes try to control things that were never in their control. How the officials call the game, what their opponent does, how the weather is affecting the playing environment – the uncontrollables are endless in sport. When athletes attempt to strong arm the things they have no ownership over, they end up overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted.

Game day rewards athletes who stay committed to what’s on their plate. In my work with athletes, I call this “staying in the circle.” Attitude, effort, attention, body language, preparation – they’re all inside the circle. Keeping your circle small frees effort and energy for the things that actually impact performance.

3. Letting Nerves and Anxiety Run the Show

Feeling nervous is normal, especially on game day. But letting nerves and anxiety dictate your decisions and overall performance is a quick way to derail your success.

Many athletes point to game day anxiety as problematic. They fight it and assume something is wrong with them because they’re nervous. Unfortunately, this perspective only amplifies the discomfort.

The most successful athletes learn to manage nerves and breathe through the pressure. They expect to feel intense emotions while competing and aren’t surprised when they show up. Actively battling nerves provides athletes with an additional opponent on game day. Learn to acknowledge their arrival and let them be.  Eventually, athletes develop the skills to trust themselves and settle into their game plan.

4. Skipping Routines and Preparation

Some athletes show up on game day and hope it all comes together. This might work for young athletes or highly skilled individuals, but eventually it catches up with us. Hoping to rise to the occasion is not a performance tactic – it’s often a scrambled, disorganized mess.

Pre-game routines regulate the nervous system and remind our minds and bodies that this is familiar territory. Routines provide a sense of calm before the storm. A pre-performance routine focuses attention and primes the body to compete. It gives athletes a roadmap to follow when nerves and pressure are high.

5. Letting One Mistake Become the Headline

Every athlete makes mistakes, but great athletes recover faster. When players magnify errors and replay them in their mind, they allow a single moment to define their performance. This creates a fear-based mindset that kills confidence. Why allow a few seconds of play to ruin the entire game?

Resilient athletes reset quickly. They acknowledge the mistake and move forward. The only way to influence the future is to focus on the now. This is called next play mentality. By focusing on playing present and welcoming the next opportunity, athletes can make a choice to move on from the mistake and right the ship.

Final Thoughts

Game day performance isn’t just about talent. It’s about managing the mental mistakes that can easily derail success. Most athletes don’t underperform because they lack skill - they underperform because their thinking blocks their ability to play free.

The good news? Every trap on this list is avoidable. With awareness and intention, athletes can shift their performance to play more consistently.  Game day should feel less like a test and more like an opportunity.

The athletes who thrive during competition aren’t the ones who avoid mistakes and control everything around them.  They’re the ones who know how to manage themselves and their emotions during performance. Master that, and you’ll give yourself the best chance to influence the outcome.

Carry on.

This column originally appeared in The Daily Hampshire Gazette on Monday, December 8, 2025.