Competition Questions/Pointers?

[Karate Kim]

My son, who is 12 has just begun competing in Karate tournaments.(Points sparring, kata & weapons)

He lets his nerves get the best of him. I need to know what I can do to help him with the anxiety of competing. It begins the morning of the tournament. He won't eat much - (and by the way - I am not sure of the best things for him to eat before??) and usually tells me that his stomach is upset or feels funny. He then worries that he is gonna get sick and refuses to eat again....Usually his division competes mid afternoon and he has gone for several hours without eating. By the time he is sparring, he is spent. He does an amazing job, but I know he would perform better if he had something on his stomach, and also be able to keep his nerves in check.

My question is: What are some tips on calming nerves/ the anxiety of competition? He loves Karate & competing, and I know he would enjoy it so much more if he'd allow himself to relax.

I have tons of other questions, but I will take it one at a time.

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!

[Wastelander]

My son, who is 12 has just begun competing in Karate tournaments.(Points sparring, kata & weapons)

He lets his nerves get the best of him. I need to know what I can do to help him with the anxiety of competing. It begins the morning of the tournament. He won't eat much - (and by the way - I am not sure of the best things for him to eat before??) and usually tells me that his stomach is upset or feels funny. He then worries that he is gonna get sick and refuses to eat again....Usually his division competes mid afternoon and he has gone for several hours without eating. By the time he is sparring, he is spent. He does an amazing job, but I know he would perform better if he had something on his stomach, and also be able to keep his nerves in check.

My question is: What are some tips on calming nerves/ the anxiety of competition? He loves Karate & competing, and I know he would enjoy it so much more if he'd allow himself to relax.

I have tons of other questions, but I will take it one at a time.

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!

How long has he been training?

[isshinryu5toforever]

Unless he has competed quite a lot and he still has these problems, I'd say he's a pretty normal kid. He should get better with nerves the more he competes.

You don't need to go to a sports psychologist or anything, just get him to take a few deep breaths and try to get rid of his nervousness. He has to realize that losing doesn't change anything, and every athlete fails at some point. Usually many, many times. You could even ask him what makes him so nervous. Usually it has to do with failure of some sort.

As far as food, he should be eating clean food before a tournament just like he should be eating clean food any other time. No junk food, no soda, he doesn't even need Gatorade.

[wayneshin]

My 11 year old goes through this as well. He always feels sick on the morning of the tournament and it is a battle to get him to eat anything. is problem is compounded by the fact that I coach a reasonable group and his older sisters are both National team members - he feels a large weight of expectation.

Nutrition is important (and FWIW cereal in the morning then over the days they should graze. sandwiches are good small amounts of rice, pasta, muffins, bananas, trail mix)

BUT overstressing that he must eat this and he must eat that only plays on my sons stress levels so i try to downplay everything and make sure he knows that it is for fun and we will be proud of him regardless.

I love to see him do well but most of all I want it to be a positive experience for him.

[Karate Kim]

My son, who is 12 has just begun competing in Karate tournaments.(Points sparring, kata & weapons)

He lets his nerves get the best of him. I need to know what I can do to help him with the anxiety of competing. It begins the morning of the tournament. He won't eat much - (and by the way - I am not sure of the best things for him to eat before??) and usually tells me that his stomach is upset or feels funny. He then worries that he is gonna get sick and refuses to eat again....Usually his division competes mid afternoon and he has gone for several hours without eating. By the time he is sparring, he is spent. He does an amazing job, but I know he would perform better if he had something on his stomach, and also be able to keep his nerves in check.

My question is: What are some tips on calming nerves/ the anxiety of competition? He loves Karate & competing, and I know he would enjoy it so much more if he'd allow himself to relax.

I have tons of other questions, but I will take it one at a time.

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!

How long has he been training?

He has been in Karate for about 1 1/2 yrs. now. He absolutely loves it. He has been training for competition for 3 mos.

[Karate Kim]

Unless he has competed quite a lot and he still has these problems, I'd say he's a pretty normal kid. He should get better with nerves the more he competes.

You don't need to go to a sports psychologist or anything, just get him to take a few deep breaths and try to get rid of his nervousness. He has to realize that losing doesn't change anything, and every athlete fails at some point. Usually many, many times. You could even ask him what makes him so nervous. Usually it has to do with failure of some sort.

As far as food, he should be eating clean food before a tournament just like he should be eating clean food any other time. No junk food, no soda, he doesn't even need Gatorade.

He hasn't competed alot, he's been to 5 tournaments over the 1 1/2 yrs he has taken. 3 of those have been local low-key tourneys.

I do tell him that no matter how it turns out, as long as he does his best that is all anyone can ask and all he can ask of himself. I believe he puts alot of pressure on himself, because we tell him to just go out and have fun and learn.

He is a picky eater, and we don't allow junk food, and do allow an occasional soda(but not very often)

By clean, do you mean fruits & veggies - eggs, nuts? Is Gatorade bad or is the sugar amount in it too high? What would you suggest he drink? Only water?

Thank you so much for your reply. He wants to continue to compete and I want him to enjoy the experience as much as possible.

[Karate Kim]

My 11 year old goes through this as well. He always feels sick on the morning of the tournament and it is a battle to get him to eat anything. is problem is compounded by the fact that I coach a reasonable group and his older sisters are both National team members - he feels a large weight of expectation.

Nutrition is important (and FWIW cereal in the morning then over the days they should graze. sandwiches are good small amounts of rice, pasta, muffins, bananas, trail mix)

BUT overstressing that he must eat this and he must eat that only plays on my sons stress levels so i try to downplay everything and make sure he knows that it is for fun and we will be proud of him regardless.

I love to see him do well but most of all I want it to be a positive experience for him.

wayneshin: That is all I want for this to be a positive experience and to have fun and learn. I always tell him regardless of the outcome, I am proud....I would like to see him enjoy it more and worry less.

I guess I will have to do better about taking our own food - most of the tournaments serve hot dogs or pizza - not good for an already queezy stomach!

Thanks for your insight!

[Jay]

I have a few ideas, its inevitable he will feel a weight of expectation if his siblings are so good. Nothing you can do about that as a guy as well he will try and be competitive. You can try liquid nutrition instead of solid food. Mix him up a smoothie some fruit, yogurt, milk and add in some oats for energy. Also if you know yoga/chi gung get him to do some breathing exercises before he goes out will help with the anxiety and sickness. You can also try distracting him as much as possible right up until the tournament starts, do some homework, play a game, go watch a film. I would say during the tournament gatorade is okay, its a sports drink so this is the right time to drink it. Sugar is good for short term energy. You can try doing a little exercise in the morning as well, maybe 5-10mins it can get the excess anxiety out and then he may feel more relaxed. Plus after the tournament do something nice as a reward, then if he know you think he did well anyway he may not be so bothered about the tournament. You can also reinforce the him having fun aspect of it, say things like you looked like you were having fun, or that looked like fun, ignoring the win/lose element, that can come later. You know I still try to think like this now win or lose if I had fun then thats all that mattered. People forgot about this all the time, the concentrate too much on winning and losing which wasn't the reason they statrted in the first place, you started because you enjoy it.

[wayneshin]

My 11 year old goes through this as well. He always feels sick on the morning of the tournament and it is a battle to get him to eat anything. is problem is compounded by the fact that I coach a reasonable group and his older sisters are both National team members - he feels a large weight of expectation.

Nutrition is important (and FWIW cereal in the morning then over the days they should graze. sandwiches are good small amounts of rice, pasta, muffins, bananas, trail mix)

BUT overstressing that he must eat this and he must eat that only plays on my sons stress levels so i try to downplay everything and make sure he knows that it is for fun and we will be proud of him regardless.

I love to see him do well but most of all I want it to be a positive experience for him.

wayneshin: That is all I want for this to be a positive experience and to have fun and learn. I always tell him regardless of the outcome, I am proud....I would like to see him enjoy it more and worry less.

I guess I will have to do better about taking our own food - most of the tournaments serve hot dogs or pizza - not good for an already queezy stomach!

Thanks for your insight!

Good luck with it. My boy is getting better with his nerves but we still need to work on it.

We now always take our own food to tournaments or it is chips or hot dogs. Sandwiches and a variety of things they can snack on over the course of the day. We never used to but quite a few years ago my daughter was diagnosed as a coelliac so when we had discussions with the nutritionist we used that opportunity for advice about this sort of thing.

On the Gatorade issue- thats what is is made for - to be a suitable fluid replacement duirng sport. I'l go to the other end of the scale. My eldest daughter - who has been on the National team for 5 years is an experienced and successful competitor. She goes through at least 2 litres of water over the course of an event as well as 1 - 2 bottles of Gatorade - depending on how many matches. (She is almost 18 and sweats a bit)

I would suggest you get him water and Gatorade. Drink mainly water in the lead up with a little gatorade. During events/matches my kids all have both on standby and drink whatever they prefer. Gatorade is good but you can certainly drink too much of it. For a 12 year old maybe one bottle and a bottle or two of water through the event depending on how much he sweats and how many eventss he has.

[isshinryu5toforever]

Unless he has competed quite a lot and he still has these problems, I'd say he's a pretty normal kid. He should get better with nerves the more he competes.

You don't need to go to a sports psychologist or anything, just get him to take a few deep breaths and try to get rid of his nervousness. He has to realize that losing doesn't change anything, and every athlete fails at some point. Usually many, many times. You could even ask him what makes him so nervous. Usually it has to do with failure of some sort.

As far as food, he should be eating clean food before a tournament just like he should be eating clean food any other time. No junk food, no soda, he doesn't even need Gatorade.

He hasn't competed alot, he's been to 5 tournaments over the 1 1/2 yrs he has taken. 3 of those have been local low-key tourneys.

I do tell him that no matter how it turns out, as long as he does his best that is all anyone can ask and all he can ask of himself. I believe he puts alot of pressure on himself, because we tell him to just go out and have fun and learn.

He is a picky eater, and we don't allow junk food, and do allow an occasional soda(but not very often)

By clean, do you mean fruits & veggies - eggs, nuts? Is Gatorade bad or is the sugar amount in it too high? What would you suggest he drink? Only water?

Thank you so much for your reply. He wants to continue to compete and I want him to enjoy the experience as much as possible.

Yes, that's what I mean by clean. Nothing processed, mostly fruits and veggies with some meat. As far as Gatorade, it's got a lot of sodium and sugar. It was designed for high performance athletes. That's not your average person. They make a half calorie version that's more suitable. A regular Gatorade however, is way too full of sugar and sodium to be suitable for a regular person that isn't an endurance athlete.