Don’t Put the Pressure of Your Future on One Game

A reminder for student-athletes navigating college showcase season: you’ve worked hard to get here. Don’t forget to enjoy the game.

My AAU basketball team

Playing in tournament after tournament, driving across the South to places like Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky, all within one summer, I get tired just thinking about it. It was an amazing opportunity, but it also came with a lot of sacrifice.

I’m so lucky I had parents who were willing to rearrange their lives to support mine. Still, I missed a lot. My friends were off at the beach or traveling to cool places with their families. I loved my AAU teammates, but I also missed a normal summer with my friends at home.

And then there was the pressure.

There were times before a game, especially when I knew college coaches would be watching, when I felt like I couldn’t even show up. I wanted to quit, to fly home and escape it all. There were practices I skipped because the anxiety was too much. At the time, I couldn’t fully name what was going on. Looking back, I realize how much pressure I was putting on myself to perform, to be seen, to live up to the goal I had spent years chasing.

I thought one bad game might ruin everything.

If you’re an athlete in the middle of showcase season, here’s what I want you to know: you don’t need to carry the weight of your entire future on one game.

Lean on Your People

One of the biggest reasons I didn’t give up was because of my support system. My family, my teammates, and especially my AAU coach, Walter. I’ll never forget the tournament when he came up to me after a game and said, “Princeton wants to talk to you.” I didn’t believe him. I wasn’t even sure my parents believed him at first.

Princeton? I didn’t think I was smart enough.

But Coach Walter believed it. And eventually, I did too. He saw something in me I couldn’t see yet. He called coaches. He kept showing up. He made it clear that I belonged. That belief helped carry me through the moments when my own confidence was shaky.

Find your small circle of supporters, and let them remind you who you are when you forget.

Try This Confidence Practice 

If you’re heading into a tournament and the pressure is starting to pile up, try this:

Write down three moments when you felt completely unstoppable in your sport.

Maybe it was a game-winning play, a day when everything clicked, or a moment when you overcame a tough opponent. Keep that list somewhere you can easily access like your notes app, a sticky note in your bag, or your bathroom mirror.

Then revisit it before games. Let those memories anchor you.

This kind of mental recall is a tool that sports psychologists often recommend and elite athletes use. It boosts self-efficacy (your belief in your ability to succeed), calms nerves, and helps shift your focus from fear to belief.

Confidence is like a muscle that we can train.

You Got This

You’re more than one game, one stat line, or one coach’s opinion.

Remind yourself why you started playing in the first place. The joy, the challenge, the love of the game. That’s still within you, even during the high-stakes moments. Especially then.