Before a big practice or an important game, it’s normal to feel nerves. Perhaps our heart rate increases, our palms sweat, or we become jittery. Sometimes the voice in our head becomes negative or we start to doubt our own abilities. All of these are examples of things we might experience with performance anxiety: anxious feelings or tendencies linked to the perceived need to perform. Fear of failure and the resulting consequences can also heighten these nerves and anxiety.  Mental ...