Pressure Plan
Pressure hits the same way every time — so you can have a plan ready for it.
The best players don't wait to feel calm. They run the same four moves: notice it, breathe, reframe it, focus on one external thing. Build yours below and keep the card.
Name what's happening
When the pressure's on, what hits you most? Tap one.
Breathe
A long exhale is the off-switch — it tells your body the threat has passed. Take four breaths: in for four seconds, out for six.
Reframe it
Those nerves are your brain's alarm system doing its job — a good system, built to keep you safe. Right now it's just too sensitive, like a smoke detector that goes off at burnt toast: it blares as if you're in danger when you're not.
Once you see a big point can't actually hurt you, it's a false alarm — and a false alarm doesn't get to run the play. The buzz can stay; you keep going. Here's a truer way to read what you're feeling — and why that's the version to trust.
Focus on 1 external thing
Last move: give your eyes one job. Right before you play the ball, lock onto one thing out in front of you — never your own body, which only tightens you up and makes you miss.
What are you about to do?
Your pressure plan
Here's your plan in one card. Keep it, then run these steps whenever the pressure spikes — before a serve, after a mistake, in a timeout. Practice it the same way every time, win or lose — a routine works because it’s automatic.