“From Fear to Readiness — Mental Training for Early-Career Athletes” (Part 1)
Core Idea of this article Early athletes often experience anxiety due to unfamiliar contexts. By combining real experience with imagery-based cognitive scripts, they can train emotional and physiological readiness faster and more safely. → This article is ideal for youth athletes, coaches, and sport psychologists. #1: Introduction – Everyone Starts with Nervousness When I was in primary school, I remember standing on the start line of our annual distance running event with my heart racing and my hands shaking. I had no idea or skill to calm the feeling. I was just nervous, holding anxiety and fear. This means the invisible and unknown fear was getting bigger in my mind. It affected my body functions, such as shaking and sweaty hands, or feeling a bit choked and breathing shallowly. Back then, I thought this feeling meant I wasn’t confident enough. But now I realise it was simply the absence of mental skills gained through practice and experience. With years of racing exper...
