A para athlete’s fear is not always the same as the fear we see in other athletes. Yes, they may worry about losing, letting their coach down, missing the team, or failing to meet expectations. But there is another fear that is discussed far less often: the fear that, today, their body may not respond the way it usually does. Not because they trained poorly. Not because they lost their fitness. But because in para sport, the equation “train well and perform well” is not always that simple. Pain may increase. Muscle tone may change. Fatigue may appear sooner. Sensation may be different. Other physical changes may occur that are simply beyond the athlete’s control. The athlete knows this because they have experienced it before. That uncertainty becomes part of their sporting reality.
This is often where the real fear begins. Not the fear of making a mistake. Not even the fear of losing. It is the fear of losing trust in their own performance. As familiar sensations change, the athlete starts monitoring every movement, checking every feeling, looking for signs that something is wrong today. Gradually, attention shifts away from the task itself and toward monitoring the body. From the outside, this can easily be mistaken for poor mental preparation, low confidence, or ordinary pre competition nerves. But sometimes the athlete is not afraid of the competition at all. They are afraid that, today, they will not be able to rely on what was reliable yesterday.
That is why a coach’s job is not to eliminate fear. It is to avoid making it stronger. Do not argue with what the athlete is feeling. Do not dismiss their experience. Do not search for a completely new technique after every difficult day. Instead, help the athlete separate real physical changes from anxiety driven assumptions, identify what remains stable today, and build the training or competition plan around those strengths. Just as importantly, remain calm yourself. Athletes read their coach’s reactions very quickly. If the coach becomes anxious, changes the plan, or starts searching for problems everywhere, the athlete often sees this as confirmation that something is truly wrong. But when the coach stays consistent, adapts to the athlete’s condition, and continues building on what the athlete can still do well, trust gradually returns. Not because the body has become predictable again, but because the athlete realizes they are still capable of performing effectively, even today. Perhaps that is one of the most important things we should teach in para sport: not how to compete without fear, but how to perform well even when not everything can be controlled.