The Voice and Nerves played a big part of the 2013 Girls 3A 4x400m relay state final (Brenda Gamboa photo)
The outdoor season is about to pick up as more meets on the boys and girls side take steps closer to the state meet. There are athletes with different levels of confidence and skill sets but there is one thing all athletes must deal with and that is the "Voice."
The voice in your head that says you may lose today. The Voice has the ability to control an athlete's thought process prior to their event. Even the most confident of athlete can have a slight bit of doubt placed in their mind. The Voice can start working on the mind days before or right before the gun sounds, a spin in the ring or a sprint down the runway. The bigger the meet or competition, the more powerful the Voice can become.
The Voice usually has a sidekick called nerves which can cause a false start or scratch and cause an athlete to not perform at their usual level. The Voice plants the seed in one's mind and Nerves take over from there. All athletes have some level of nervousness before their event and if they say they don't have nerves, they're lying.
The Voice targets the elite athletes the most because they have the biggest target on their backs and the most to lose, while Nerves works on everybody entered in the meet. An elite athlete can ignore the Voice in most meets to a point because there aren't as many threats to beat them. The meets for some include conference, sectionals, state or any national meet.
The Voice may speak and let you know that you just may lose today. Why is it believable? Because there are other athletes in your event who are just as good as you are and can do what you can do in a state final. The Voice has had a great meet when it has been able to get into the mind of a great athlete and cause havoc. The Voice can even get into the minds of coaches and plant a seed of doubt about their individual or team. A coach can look at the entries of a particular meet and the Voice will creep in and mention to the coach, 'You realize there's a good chance your athlete will lose if you go to this meet?' The coach may look at the scenario and think of a possible tarnished reputation to the athlete and maybe even themselves and go to a lesser meet, because the Voice has spoken.
A great athlete or to become great, one must learn how to control the Voice and keep it from taking over ones thought process. The Nerves will always be lurking, but usually disappear when the gun goes off. During my career I used music to control the Voice and Nerves. I had a huge target on my back and was the feather everyone wanted to put in their cap. I would rarely get a visit from the Voice, but Nerves was always present. I wasn't the type to get real nervous because my confidence stayed at a high level.
The Voice and Nerves were at an all time high at state because of my injury with tendonitis in my knee (see 4x100m relay 1986 blog). I wasn't even sure I could run; running fast wasn't even in the question. The Voice sat next to me at breakfast and ate the same cereal I did, rode the bus and even sat in the seat next to me all the way to state, it followed me everywhere I went and stretched and did sprint drills with me. Finally, the Voice spoke and said, 'You realize guys you would've smashed if you were healthy may beat you today?' I would go off by myself and turn up my- yes I'm going to say it- "Walkman"(portable cassette player). I'm old school, as you can see. A crucial piece of equipment on meet day for me was my Walkman. I would turn it up and blast the music and start trying to eliminate the Voice and Nerves completely and relax for my events. I never took off my headphones until the heat before mine. Once they were off, the Voice and its sidekick, Nerves were gone and it was show time.
St. Charles East was able to successfully defeat the Voice and Nerves (Brenda Gamboa photo)
To be successful and perform at a high level, each athlete must come up with their own solution in dealing with the Voice and Nerves. I've watched professional athletes deal with both from talking to themselves, making faces, and even dance like Usain Bolt to control the Voice. It is definitely something that must be controlled or you will hear from the Voice, and it will control and cause havoc for you.