Clean Run - September 2012 - 28

Agility Mind Gym
Dealing with Fear and Pressure
By Kathy Keats In many respects, this is the key article in the whole series. Much of what we have been talking about has been leading up to this topic. You’ve done your homework, practiced hard, and you are good at what you do... but in a big event something keeps holding you back from your best performances. This is where things get brutally honest. What is it, exactly, that you are afraid of? Fear creates pressure and pressure creates tension. Tension is the killer of top performance. Handlers don’t see things, dogs knock bars, and generally everything turns into a dog’s breakfast. Why do we compete? Really, when you think about it, there is pressure just in the nature of an agility competition. There is a judge, implying of course that you are going to be judged. You are walking out with your dog in front of a judge and a panel of peers and basically saying, “Here is my handling and training, where do I rank?” By nature, a competition is a test to see where you are at. Otherwise, you’d stay at home and play for fun in your backyard. What you might be looking for from the competition will vary. You might be looking for titles, to qualify for big events, to enjoy the fun of the “rush,” for social time, even to win or a combination of all those things. (By the way, there are no right or wrong, and no good or bad answers here.) Ask yourself honestly, would you keep competing if: ence of others. We are still the ones creating the pressure and putting it on ourselves regardless of whether we are alone or in a crowded arena. The good news is we can learn how to control that. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.” It is one of my favorite quotes, along with, “Wellbehaved women rarely make history,” a gem from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. These two quotes speak to the two main issues:

· There were no titles? · There were no major events? competition, no · It was not ajudge? scores, no only person · Thejudge? there was others your perfor· Allowingto affectorand determine the mances your self-image · You were the only person there? Very likely, there is some element take chances · Being willing tobe yourself, and of the test and/or the social aspect and stand up,
of the event that is very important to you, which means that two of your biggest fears may be: others · Being compared to(failure) and not measuring up others think poorly of · Havingyour dog or your trainyou or ing, etc. (failure) not compare yourself to others

We can feel pressures and fears when we are by ourselves, but these feelings get magnified in the pres-

In these articles we have talked about self-image, controlling our thoughts, focusing only on the important elements of the activity, staying in the moment, breathing with relaxation and tension release, and so on. All these tools help us control our physical and mental reactions to fear. This final tool may be the most powerful. I find that perspective is the best way for me to compensate for an overac-

Fear creates pressure and pressure creates tension. Tension is the killer of top performance. Handlers don’t see things, dogs knock bars, and generally everything turns into a dog’s breakfast.
28 Clean Run | September 12

Clean Run - September 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - September 2012