Nationals- Was It Stressful for You, Or Was It Just Me?

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This year as I watched Nationals, several thoughts crossed my mind as I saw so many nerve-wrecking situations happen. When I was a competitor last year I knew how I coped with stress, but looking at the big picture it became so much clearer to see how stress affects almost everyone. In August I will be a junior on the St. Mary’s sailing team, and am currently recovering from some athletic injuries that required me to take this semester off. Through this semester I’ve been writing about sailing and keeping track of regattas (thanks to sailgroove!) as a way to stay engaged. The more I watched Nationals instead of sailing, the more I realized how many factors are at work to make it more stressful than any other regatta of the year. There are a multitude of small factors at work that make Nationals more psychologically difficult than the rest of the season, but I found that addressing some of them more consciously and predicting potential strains helps the process of overcoming nerves come race-time.

Every year at Nationals or at other big events the expression, “it’s just another regatta” tends to circulate the boatyard and hang in the air. Although these words are technically true and a helpful mentality for many to stay to calm, this type of thinking often makes me panic. In certain moments the phrase has helped me, but I’ve found most of the time that I have to use imaginary earmuffs when someone says that. Everyone is different when it comes down to nerves and how to stay calm on and off the water during high-stress regattas, however (whether they admit it or not) nerves affect most competitors in some way.

No matter what the source of pressure is, Nationals often acts as a catalyst to bring out extreme situations. It’s surprisingly easy to freeze, choke up, get too heated in the moment or make rushed decisions out on the water. One of the first and biggest things I learned about racing is that things tend to build on each other. Big mistakes are usually the result of several small mistakes that the team never fully recovered from. Likewise, once some little good things happen, everything feels like it just falls into place. For me the best way to approach it is to convert normal jitters into adrenaline that can bring out the best racing. I think the first step to preventing fluky situations and excelling under pressure is being able to predict the little (or the big) things that may rattle your boat and finding a way to work with it instead of against it.

There are several factors that distinguish Nationals from being just another regatta. One thing could be that racing is regional most of the season and Nationals is the first time that racing amongst other regions takes place. It might be the spectators. Having parents, family, alumni, and others around can add an additional stress for some. College sailing is unique because separate boats are extremely reliant on each other in team racing and fleet racing. I think a lot of stress comes from a fear of letting other teammates down, and/or that there are a lot of situations which only one boat has control over the outcome.

Rotating between crews and having “extra” teammates can either be very helpful or a downer, depending on the circumstances. Even when alternates are sincerely supportive, it’s a hard place to be in and there are usually mixed feelings about who is sailing or not. Especially when there are spare skippers, there’s an additional stress that whoever is sailing doesn’t want to get switched out. For a crew it’s not too bad when the conditions honestly don’t match a crew’s weight-range but sometimes it becomes clear that having a more talented crew or a crew the skipper trusts out-weighs physical weight. On top of all that, as difficult as it is for a player to have to sit out, it is equally as hard for an alternate (skipper or crew) to jump into a boat and sail their best right away.

For everyone a lot of stress may come from going into the regatta knowing that there’s nothing else you can do to prepare or improve. Thinking “this is it” is something that may freak out some, while calming others. Usually Nationals is the last time to sail together as a team, in that every year some graduate and it’s the last time that things are going to be exactly the same. For seniors, there is no “next year” if things go wrong. There’s a feeling that happens, which I think is a double-edged dagger, that you’ve worked consistently all year but that Nationals is the one and only time to prove something. In some ways that mentality can be a motivator, but just as often I think that perceiving Nationals as a last-time event is more scary than helpful. Also, it’s important for me to have an open mindset to be able to still improve and be flexible through the regatta even if you’re not racing again until next fall.

Depending on a teams or personal background and set goals, the amount of stress varies a lot too. I think that for underdog teams or for players that have had to work really hard to get a spot at Nationals, the struggle can once again be an advantage or disadvantage. Approaching it as an underdog can help because it’s a perspective where you can sail with nothing to lose and have a lot of freedom to take risks, but that gets cumbersome when it slips into a mentality of trying to prove something. Often this leads to uncalled for protests, and just bad sailing. On the other hand, a team predicted to do very well is under more stress than other teams in that there’s a set bar they have to maintain which can be distracting. So from wherever a team is coming from, it’s crucial not to over-think where other people are expecting you to place.

An idea that may relieve stress in this area is to remember Nationals is big, but it doesn’t determine much to an outside-eye. One thing I’ve learned from being a spectator is that after a long season of racing, hardly anyone judges a team or sailor off of just Nationals. When a team that was predicted to win gets mid-fleet, almost no one makes the assumption that they must be a mid-fleet team. First thoughts are that they either choked up or something fluky happened. Also, it should be kept in mind college Rankings and Nationals are less consistent than the reputation built over time.

Whether these are some of the problems or not, something odd and unexpected always seems to happen at Nationals. Being able to prevent and recover quickly when on the water is probably more important than really knowing why. Nationals isn’t just another regatta, but everyone has to figure out for themselves what about Nationals might put on additional stress, and ways to get around pressure affecting their sailing. On that note keep an eye out for my next article, which will cover how to cope with stress during Nationals and other high-pressure events.