Find the difference before you blame yourself
At practice, the pass arrives and you know what to do. In a game, you hear the crowd, glance toward the bench and wonder whether one mistake will cost you your place. The skill may be familiar while the situation around it feels very different.
That is one possible pattern. Another athlete may be facing faster opponents, a changed role or decisions their drills have not included. “It is all in my head” can hide useful information. Ask your coach to help compare the two settings: what information is available, how much time you have and what you are being asked to do.
Describe a particular moment rather than your entire competitive identity. “I look at the bench after a missed pass” gives you a place to work. “I am a practice player” turns several experiences into a label that explains very little.
Notice where your attention goes
An athlete can be physically in the game while mentally reviewing the last mistake or imagining the next substitution. Brown’s focus material names praise, criticism, comparison and outcome worries as places attention can go. The practical teaching is to recognize the drift and return to information that belongs to the current job.
For a volleyball player, that might mean returning to the team’s next defensive assignment after a missed serve. For a basketball player, it could mean locating their matchup after a turnover. The useful target comes from the game, not from a demand to feel perfectly confident.
During the next review with your coach, ask: “What should I have been looking for at that moment?” The answer may be much more useful than another instruction to relax.
Rehearse the return during ordinary practice
Choose a short reminder for one job you already understand. Suppose your attention stays with a mistake while play continues. At an appropriate moment in the next drill, try a cue such as “My assignment,” then locate the information needed for that assignment. Agree on the job with your coach before testing the words.
You do not need to manufacture an upsetting practice or punish mistakes to make the exercise count. A normal missed pass or changed drill can provide enough opportunity. Use a familiar task first, then ask your coach how it could fit more representative game practice.
The cue is a reminder, not a command that prevents every thought or error. If it leaves you monitoring your own mind instead of the game, make it simpler or choose a clearer target.
You can be nervous and still have a next job
Waiting to feel the same as you do in practice can become another distraction. In Brown’s Triple A Mindset, acceptance means making room for what is present while choosing an appropriate action. You can acknowledge that an occasion matters and still listen for an instruction or prepare for the next play.
Afterward, review one moment. What pulled your attention away? What helped you reconnect with the task? Let the answer guide the next practice. If the difficulty keeps returning, bring specific examples to your coach or a qualified mental performance professional. You deserve help understanding it.
Compare one practice moment with one competition moment
Choose the same skill in two settings and describe the differences. Was the instruction the same? Was there more waiting, a different opponent, a changed role or more attention on the score? Notice what you did with those differences before deciding that the whole problem is confidence. Technical, tactical and physical factors may also need your coach’s attention.
Bring one comparison to practice. You might rehearse returning to a familiar cue after a pause or clarify the first assignment when the lineup changes. Keep any added challenge appropriate to the training plan. The aim is to learn about a specific gap, not to punish yourself with pressure until games feel easy. If the difficulty remains unclear, ask for qualified support rather than collecting more unexplained techniques.
Bring the skill into your own sport
The gap between practice and competition is worth exploring with curiosity. You have a real situation to learn about and a familiar skill to bring into it. reset’s guided mental training offers a place to practice attention and preparation, then carry that work back to your sport.