The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.

Pressure only exists if you are concerned about the outcome.
Playing a scratch match and playing in the national finals are exactly the same thing! It’s still the same ball, the same strategies, the same rules – nothing has changed in terms of how you play the game.
So approach pressure situations as though they are practice matches. Train your mind to stay in the present and let the outcome take care of itself.

Learn to practise at the same level you compete at. Your best possibly match play can only ever be as good as your best possible training performance. People labour under the illusion that all those little successful moments in training will somehow combine together on match day to bring about higher levels of performance. This just isn’t true, so learn to train as you mean to play.

You must practise pressure situations in training, so they become normal and easy to handle.

Ensure you have good preparation leading up to competition.

Pressure situations require enhanced communication – practise this in training.

Never, ever give in – maintain commitment and desire in the face of adversity.

Learn to focus on the right thing at the right time, regardless of what is going on around you.

Often athletes (and coaches) rush things when they are under pressure. This detracts from performance, communication, vision, and enjoyment. Slow down. Even though you may feel under time constraints, it’s better to slow down and get it right than to rush it and make an error.

Some people will benefit from engaging in some relaxation exercises prior to competing, to help them to feel calm and focused.

Practise mindfulness (no negative thoughts... I mean, think positively!).

Share how you feel with others – talking about how you feel can help you to deal with it. However be mindful of who you choose to talk to, you don’t want to put ideas of pressure into your teammates’ heads!

Strive for excellence, not perfection. It is okay to make mistakes under pressure, just as it is alright to make mistakes in training – so long as you recover well and learn from them.

Focus on technique or strategy. Pay attention to the things you have practised – they are familiar so they won’t feel pressured.

Have good error recovery strategies – people tend to make more errors when they perceive they are under pressure, so you need to have a good strategy to deal with them without them affecting your confidence.

Remember, it’s not about your feelings, it’s about your actions. Take the focus off how you feel, by putting your focus onto what you will do. Your actions affect your emotions so go through the right actions (pretend if you must) and you will feel better.

Identify the actions/skills that suffer most when you are in a pressure situation. Put extra time into practising those skills so that you feel confident in them in any circumstance. The appropriate action must be practised to the level of a conditioned response (it must be automatic).

Increased fitness helps you deal with pressure. Also make sure you train sometimes when you’re fatigued.

Maintain your belief in yourself, no matter what the situation.