Whereas working out onto the sector for the primary time earlier than Tremendous Bowl LIV’s kickoff in 2020, Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt remembers trying up and seeing a bit of trivia on the video board: If the Chiefs win as we speak, Dustin joins his dad, Craig, and brother, Britton, as a Tremendous Bowl champion.
It instantly triggered a bout of overthinking and anxiousness.
“Oh crap,” Colquitt thought.
To calm his nerves, he used a easy treatment: a collection of respiration workout routines on the sideline.
Individuals in all places take care of comparable surges of strain or nervousness. The skilled soccer gamers who’ve made it to the Tremendous Bowl are experiencing those self same emotions, however on a public stage, elevated for tens of hundreds of thousands to see. The extremeness of all of it forces them to determine tips on how to conquer these feelings in methods we are able to additionally apply forward of an enormous job interview, a public talking engagement or any strain second in our lives.
Listed here are 4 recommendations on tips on how to quiet your thoughts from Tremendous Bowl champions.
Discover a useful distraction
In the course of Tremendous XLIX in 2015, Seahawks large receiver Doug Baldwin felt some anxiousness creeping in. It was bizarre to him, after coming into the sport with what he known as an “overwhelming sense of confidence.” However he knew the place the anxiousness was coming from.
“This will likely sound foolish, however as a receiver, the arrogance of with the ability to catch the ball typically leaves you,” he mentioned.
It’s why he had practiced a couple of strategies forward of time, one in every of which he began to do at that second.
He closed his eyes and caught his palms out in entrance of him. Then, utilizing his thumb, he touched every one in every of his fingertips, one after the other, and repeatedly tapped his fingers.
“What it was doing was re-grounding me in that second,” Baldwin defined. “Form of serving to me get in tune with my physique. The easy touching of your fingertips, that sends electro indicators all through your physique.”
It additionally serves as a distraction, one thing Baldwin knew he wanted in pressure-packed moments. Solely an hour or two earlier, he preoccupied himself on his telephone along with his favourite technique sport on the time, “Galaxy On Fireplace: Alliances.”
“I might distract my thoughts and go to one thing that was a bit bit extra controllable and lighthearted,” he mentioned.
Different Tremendous Bowl champions, like Colquitt, had comparable approaches with music. Colquitt mentioned whereas a few of his teammates acquired prepared for giant video games with loud hype music, he most well-liked the calmness of Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffett. The consistency of his music choices additionally helped ease his thoughts.
“I knew that if I listened to my music, it felt like simply one other sport, simply one other opponent,” he mentioned.
Breath work can shortly recalibrate you
Whereas getting ready to play within the Tremendous Bowl, Colquitt took a second for himself, like he did earlier than each sport, to easily concentrate on his respiration. With indie rock music nonetheless buzzing in his ears, he began with the quantity 13.
For 13 seconds, he held his breath, then launched his breath slowly for one more 13 seconds. Counting down by increments of three, he held his breath for 10 seconds and launched it for one more 10 seconds. Till he acquired down to a few.
“It could begin form of slowing my coronary heart fee down,” Colquitt mentioned. “In between that and the music, it stored me at a relaxed or a peace. Simply form of took the nerves out of all the pieces.”
Equally, earlier than former Steelers guard Willie Colon performed in Tremendous Bowl XLIII, he placed on his uniform, listened to the music “Nearer” by Goapele on repeat and started to depend.
“I might depend to 10 after which from 10 go all the way in which to 1 after which go all the way in which again to 10,” he mentioned. “Simply counting and specializing in my respiration actually calmed my nerves. That was one thing that at all times helped me.”
For Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan, breath work was not solely useful earlier than strain moments, however throughout them, too.
Ryan was in his second yr within the NFL when he made his first Tremendous Bowl in 2015, and although the Patriots gained, he wasn’t happy along with his mentality.
“I discovered myself taking part in it secure,” he mentioned. “I didn’t wish to be the rationale we misplaced. I simply wasn’t taking a threat as a result of I knew what was at stake. I advised myself I used to be by no means going to play a Tremendous Bowl like that once more.”
When he made the Tremendous Bowl with the Patriots a second time, two years later, he resolved to not be afraid of the second and play fearlessly.
By his third Tremendous Bowl within the remaining yr of his profession, this time with the San Francisco 49ers in 2024, he mentioned he was within the “most zen state he ever performed a sport.”
Largely that was due to respiration strategies he had realized to heart himself. By breath work, he mastered tips on how to monitor his coronary heart fee and drop it. On the bench throughout the sport, and even on the sector earlier than performs, he used the approach to get right into a relaxed state.
“Simply let it go,” he mentioned. “Don’t be afraid of creating a mistake. I actually simply wished to be within the second, and I feel the breath work actually stored me within the second.”
Each Ryan and Colon nonetheless use breath work to calm their minds earlier than huge conferences or broadcasting video games.
Visualization could be highly effective
Each night time earlier than a sport, Seahawks linebacker Okay.J. Wright would take 10 minutes alone. No telephone, no TV, simply complete silence.
For these 10 minutes he would play out the upcoming sport in his thoughts.
“I’d discuss to myself,” he mentioned. “I’d say: ‘You’re going to make each sort out. That is what’s coming your method.’ Simply bringing that power to me, bringing that optimistic success to me. That was a freaking game-changer. I swear by that.”
One other Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith, the MVP of Tremendous Bowl XLVIII in 2014, had a barely totally different twist. Whereas he ready throughout the week for perfection, he additionally reminded himself earlier than the sport that imperfections are a part of it and that was OK.
“You knew you have been going to make a mistake; it’s not going to be excellent,” he mentioned. “Don’t set the expectation that it’s going to go excellent. You’ll make a mistake, knock it out and simply maintain going.”
Embrace the massive second
Typically the immensity of a possibility can overwhelm. Each Smith and Baldwin leaned into it.
Smith constantly reminded himself that the hype of the Tremendous Bowl shouldn’t freak him out; it ought to excite him. He was calmer in that sport than every other sport he ever performed in, he mentioned.
“There was no imposter syndrome as a result of we had confirmed that we deserved to be there,” Smith mentioned. “Usually when you’ve got an enormous day, it’s usually since you earned that chance to be there. That helped me to relax and be current.”
“Let the second be the second,” Baldwin mentioned. “Benefit from the second and be current with the second, no matter what is available in that second. It’s a really highly effective antidote to anxiousness and doubt.”
Bruce Arians, who gained a Tremendous Bowl in 2021 as the top coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, simply wished to be himself. So he did what he at all times did the night time earlier than a sport: a few drinks and an excellent night time’s sleep. In spite of everything, he figured that had been adequate to get him to the Tremendous Bowl.
“I by no means tried to vary,” Arians mentioned. “I attempted to remain the identical. Simply maintain the routine the identical so there’s no extra additional hype.”
(Photograph: Grant Halverson / Getty Photos)