No matter what sport you are playing, if you are playing it at the collegiate level, you love the game. It's why you continued playing, it's why you still play, and it's why you care so much about the sport you're in. The game you love can determine your emotions for the rest of the day, for the week, or maybe just for an hour. However, it's important how you deal with the emotions that arise from adrenaline, fear, excitement, and loss.

Related: Rate your Coaches, Facilities, and Campus Visits

Everyone Loves to Win…

Winning the championship game is one of the best feelings in the world, especially if you had a movie-type moment where you made a game-saving or game-winning play. So how do you react? You should celebrate by all means. But when the sun rises again, the real champions, the best of the best, get back to work. Not only that, but you can't let that win affect the other areas of your life–you should be back in class the next day, you should still be getting your work done, eating right, and you should still be the same person afterward with friends. Even at your highest points, you should stay true to who you are because you will come down from the highest point and you want people to be there for you when you do.

…But Someone Has to Lose

Now the opposite: one of the worst feelings in the world is losing the championship game. Just like when you win, by all means, feel your emotions for a little bit. It is going to sting, it sucks and you will be sad or maybe even mad. However, the later reaction should be the same. Get back to work. At the end of the day, the sport you play is just a game. It will not determine the rest of your life and all you can do is move on. The next day, be back in class, get your work done, hang out with your friends and most importantly, keep grinding. Don't let this bad moment define you or ruin the game. 

Related: Monday Motivation: Take Losses in Stride

Stuck in the Middle

Winning and losing encompass two ends of the emotional spectrum every athlete has experienced. But how about everything between those two moments? You will go through ups and downs constantly throughout the year. You might win a big game or lose it, you might play great or have a bad day at practice, or you might just be in a time period where everything is going alright–not one way or the other. You might be nervous about the big game coming up or you aren't feeling nervous at all and you are just purely excited. How do you deal with those in-between emotions? 

My tip: accept the emotions and talk to someone that you know will give you good advice. Furthermore, be the same person outside of the sport. At your best or at your worst or somewhere in between, treat your friends the same way, go to classes the same way, do work the same way, and maintain normalcy to your life outside of the sport. That way, whenever you are down, you don't feel it as much going through the daily actions, and if you are up, you don't become so arrogant that no one wants to be around you.

As an athlete, you will go through daily emotions while playing college sports so it's important to handle emotions the right way. Celebrate when things are good, recover when things are bad, and handle the emotions as best as possible. Once you can't separate the emotions of the game from your life outside it, you risk losing the love of the game and being so distracted that you lose sight of what is important in your life outside of the sport.
Have an idea for a story or a question you need answered? Want to set up an interview with us? Email us at [email protected]

* Originally published on August 24, 2022, by Scott Abramson