When Athletes Describe a Great Performance It Normally Goes Like This...

Jody Martins | September 27, 2023

It’s quite remarkable… a few weeks back I was presenting at the Cricket South Africa Level 3. Wow! 5 ex-South African cricketers in the room.

I was presenting on Coaching Performance.

During the presentation, we got to talking about the experience cricketers have when they are playing at their best. I got to share the fairly consistent pattern I became aware of as I have spoken with my elite clients on the times they play and perform at their best. What was remarkable was that I got 5 head nods in the process.

*The explanation below has… for different athletes, different variations in intensity, and at times has a couple of extra steps… however, these few steps are fairly consistent.

When athletes describe a great performance it normally goes like this…

1. Nerves.

They would normally describe the initial stages of the performance as having a degree of nervousness. Not to the extent that they panic or the type that blows their performance up, but rather just a degree of it bubbling under the surface.

This would mean that nerves of a certain level are beneficial to performance. This is crucial to understand as often athletes come to see me because they want to get rid of the nervousness they feel before a performance. The cool thing about this is to know that nervousness is ‘good’ initially and athletes can develop an understanding of when or what type of nervousness is ‘not good’ for them. Those types of nerves, that are not beneficial are the ones we can address.

What affects nervousness greatly is preparation. We cannot bullshit our minds into believing that we are ready for a performance if have not done the necessary work to be ready for the performance. Developing your sport-specific skills, tactics, and strategies, as well as physical and mental capabilities all go towards feeling ready for a performance.

2. Focus.

Next, athletes describe a specific initial focus. Sometimes this focus gets ‘switched on’ by an event on the field, sometimes we have the focus. I remember a cricketer telling me how he played and missed the ball, with no foot movement early in an inning as the thing that told him that ‘he is not in the game’. This ‘switched him on and he had the focus he wanted. He scored a double 100.

Our individual perceptions about a performance plays a big part here. Say you love a challenge, you want it… and the game right now is a big challenge. Your nerves might not be overwhelming, because you look forward to the challenge… you might be able to understand what the game needs at that moment, and so you gain clarity of focus. Let’s say you don’t like that type of challenge, then your nerves might be overwhelming and your ability to gain clarity of what the moment needs is hampered… so you are not able to focus.

3. Forgetful.

The final stage is the stage where everything becomes a blur. Oooh flow. When time warps, thoughts and emotions fade into the background as the sense of self dissolves. The game is simply played. This final stage would often be accompanied by words like, ‘I played with freedom’, ‘I didn’t care about the outcome’, and ‘I just played’.

It is my hope that this basic structure provides you with some insight into the flow of peak performance. When we see the elite on TV or live at an event, we know they are human too… they feel the nerves, they are certainly focusing on something… and when they seem to be doing the impossible, or playing with freedom… they will in all likelihood not be able to tell you what happened.

How well do you understand yourself when you are playing at your best?