Quotes & Sayings About Pressure In Sports

It's amazing to be able to play the sport that I grew up loving so much and that I have a strong passion for. I'm just having a ball. There's a lot of pressure that comes with being in the spotlight and being a superstar and a role model, but I'm enjoying it. — Reggie Bush

At the high school level, the coaches get these kids in revenue-driven sports and take them away from baseball. There's so much pressure on these kids to even play spring football. We need to get the African-American players back in the game, which I think would make it not only a better game, but more exciting and entertaining for everyone. — Pat Gillick

In team sports the athletes were bonded by each other, there was an immense peer pressure to keep going. One dared not miss a practice for fear of letting his teammates down. Every time an athlete thought of getting back into bed in the morning he knew he would have to face the anger of his closest friends. But the sculler had to find motivation entirely within himself. No one else cared. — David Halberstam

Perhaps more than any other sport, golf focuses pressure on the player. There are no time constraints, as there are in other sports. Your competitors are not allowed to hinder you, as they are in other sports. The pressure originates in yourself; it builds from doubts. A two-foot putt on the practice green doesn't spark many doubts. A two-foot putt to win a bet or a tournament or a Masters is another thing entirely. — Joe Posnanski

One of the things about my sport that's important is consistency - being able to do your routines consistently and training consistently. If you change it up or try to make everything more intense because the Olympics is coming up, you tend to put too much pressure on your mind and your body. — Jonathan Horton

Boxers are going away and not getting decisions and are losing, so it's not looking good for us, is it, as a nation? Thanks for pointing that out. It's put even more pressure on me now. I don't mind that at all. I love pressure. — Carl Froch

It's hard for these athletes to stay healthy. They are constantly being bombarded with unhealthy advertising. Peer pressure can override the body's demand for health. Being healthy goes beyond 'not being sick' (where all lab reports indicate health), to feeling optimistic, energetic, strong and happy with their bodies. Teaching them to take charge of their bodies is a job of coaching. Help them gain discipline in conditioning, nutrition and attitude/emotional control. — John Kessel

Sport that consumed me for over two decades ... is now gone. Now it's just me. No pressure, no expectations, no need to be fast, good, strong or to even improve. Yet I can't let go of this idea that I always need to be more than I am. And it is eating me alive. — Clara Hughes

People who aren't perhaps that into sport are going to be following me and wanting to be part of the Olympics. That definitely does bring added pressure but as an athlete the Olympics are the ultimate competition. — Jessica Ennis

There are a lot of leg strains on the inside of the legs. There's a lot of pressure on your legs and knees. Shoulders are another big thing. We play a physical sport and those are the areas that go. — Gerad Adams

I just mean ... damn ... this might sound a bit crazy, but sometimes you can't help wondering if we don't take all this a bit too seriously. If we aren't putting too much pressure on the juniors. They're not really much more than ... kids."

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"That depends what we want from the kids. And what the kids want from hockey. — Fredrik Backman

I actually love pressure. I loved playing sport at school in front of a crowd; I love being on stage in front of a big audience. I buzz off that. — Alfie Allen

You know, I never really paid attention to sports, which, coming from the mecca of football in Texas, is kind of odd. I played sports, but I was nerdy. Having a single mother, the pressure was on me to get good grades and a scholarship and go to college. — Sarah Shahi

Coming where I'm coming from, really, my family name isn't a pressure because, you know, music is not like sports, where you can go and do a hundred reps in a gym and come out and be all buffed up. Music is an expression of what's inside of you. And that's how I make music. — Damian Marley

It is the most powerful submission in the sport. It is a beautiful thing. You're holding them into you, their back is on you, and you are basically choking them gradually like a boa constrictor and once you've got them, the pressure goes on and they have to submit or they are going to stop breathing. It happened to me early in my career, and I panicked, and gave in, I tapped out too early. I learned a lot from that. I learned from it, learned how to do the move better, learned how to avoid it being done to me. — Conor McGregor

Teachers, parents, guidance counselors ... all of them are always pushing this crap about how it's okay to be different, just be yourself. Don't give in to peer pressure, blah, blah, blah. The truth is, it's really only okay to be yourself if that self is within an accepted range of "normal." You like soccer instead of basketball, Johnny? Well, okay, I guess, so long as you still like sports. What's that, Susie, you want to wear the blue sweater instead of the red? You know we're all about expressing individuality here ... so long as it's still a sweater. — Stacey Kade

I put so much pressure on myself to be perfect. Between homework and sports and drama and being social, I slept about four hours a night through high school and college. — Allison Williams

I think some of the pressure comes from the expectations of other people. Like if your father played baseball, they expect you to be the big lifesaver or something when you play a sport. — Barry Bonds

I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don't think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete. — Wayne Gretzky

Luck? Sure. But only after long practice and only with the ability to think under pressure. — Babe Didrikson Zaharias

You can measure a man's character by the choices he makes under pressure. — Winston Churchill

When I first came to the Eagles, I found a bunch of guys shell-shocked from losing. They had been through some lean years, they just didn't know how to handle the pressure. They were quiet; they kept to themselves. I said, " Hey, this has gotta change. Let's make pressure fun." — Ron Jaworski

I think God has it written down for me, that without training and working hard you will never achieve desired results. All three times I have had to toil my way into the Olympics. Talking about pressure, well that is something you have to learn to deal with in sports. — Vijender Singh

The news might be single-handedly trying to bring about an environmental catastrophe, which it will then report on. Super injunctions are interesting legal weapons really, they don't just gag the press, they gag them from mentioning the existence of the gag. Sport belongs in a news bulletin about as much as a mummified cat's head belongs in a Caesar salad. Combine the "mounting pressure" with the "growing cause" and you've got yourself a "media whirlwind" which you can also refer to. — Charlie Brooker

I actually play sports better when I'm mad. Some players don't play better when they're mad. They lose their sense of where they're at. I have a tendency to do better when I'm under pressure. — Kevin Costner

A lot of people think I'm under a lot of pressure with my family and friends spending all that money to follow me around — Bonnie Blair

Much of the pressure contemporary parents feel with respect to dressing children in designer clothes, teaching young children academics, and giving them instruction in sports derives directly from our need to use our children to impress others with our economic surplus. We find "good" rather than real reasons for letting our children go along with the crowd. — David Elkind

I hate the cliche of 'just have fun,' but what I've seen in today's sports, especially with parents, is they put so much pressure on the kids. — Hope Solo

You can't play sports without losing sometimes and, in losing, you learn something about grace and how to act under pressure. — John F. Kerry

I feel the pressure but I embrace it. Whatever I have to do to make the sport catch on to other people, I'll do it. — Freddy Adu

Sports is a moral undertaking because it requires of participants, and it schools spectators in the appreciation of, noble things - courage, grace under pressure, sportsmanship. — George Will

If you're not prepared, it's not pressure you feel, it's fear. — Bruce Bochy

The only way of finding a solution is to fight back, to move, to run, and to control that pressure. — Rafael Nadal

I might sound like a crazy person, but that's the way I pump myself up. You know how some people are just like 'I have to talk about it'? Sometimes I'll call my husband and we'll talk about it, sometimes I have to talk to myself in the mirror. So I start talking to myself: 'You got this. Don't think of this as Sports Illustrated, just think about this as the best swimsuit campaign you've done in your life. And just kill it and own it and don't put that pressure on yourself.' — Ashley Graham

I think as far as any kind of pressure on a football team or on an individual in professional sports really depends not only on that individual but the leadership they have on the team and the leadership they have on the coaching staff. A lot of times, they can divert some of those pressures off of the individual and off of the team. — Jimmy Johnson

I've just been enjoying the training a bit more. I've put too much pressure on myself in the past. Just relax and let it come. I just went out there to have a bit of fun tonight. — Sophie Edington

I learned that you shouldn't take your most esoteric concept and fit it into the largest space with the highest fixed costs. It puts too much pressure on the restaurant to hit grand slams every day when there just aren't enough people who want to watch that sport. — Danny Meyer

Pressure bursts pipes. I thank God for giving me peace of mind to overcome pressure. The difference between winning and losing is when pressure hits. — Evander Holyfield

I've got three sons, and two of them would absolutely hate being on the stage and never liked appearing in their school plays or musicals, but the middle one absolutely loves it and never shows any sign of nerves or pressure and really gets a kick out of performing. I think it depends entirely on the child. And that applies to anything whether it's sport or entertainment or music or film. — Piers Morgan

To take pressure off myself, I realize how fortunate I am to be playing a sport for a living. If I take that mentality onto the court, there shouldn't be any pressure because I'm already fortunate to do what I do. — John Isner

I watch a lot of sports. One of the reasons I watch is to see how these guys handle pressure, how they respond to situations. — Jason Dufner

I can definitely take more off my world record - a lot more. I have no doubt about that. I'm by no means putting pressure on myself, it's just the belief I have in myself ... I'm not going to limit myself by nominating times or anything like that. I never thought I'd do 14:34 and I did. I thought I'd maybe do 14:38 or 14:39 that day, and I went nearly five seconds quicker so I don't want to limit the possibilities — Grant Hackett

It was another example of a phenomenon I call "the talking dog syndrome." Some people are still amazed that any woman (this includes Governors' wives, corporate CEOs, sports stars and rock singers) can hold her own under pressure and be articulate and knowledgeable. The dog can talk! — Hillary Rodham Clinton

Forget about showering with my fellow students in Tribeca Alternative's prison-style showers - one nozzle for four to six girls at a time - in the locker room.
It was impossible to work up a sweat during what passed for physical education class at TAHS, so there was no need to shower, anyway.
Well, impossible for me, considering that, in the past, whenever a volleyball or whatever came near me,
I'd always make sure to step calmly away to avoid it.
See? No sweat. No need for a shower. Problem solved. — Meg Cabot

Everyone in boxing probably makes out well except for the fighter. He's the only one that's on Skid Row most of the time; he's the only one that everybody just leaves when he loses his mind. He sometimes goes insane, he sometimes goes on the bottle, because it's an intensive pressure sport that allows people to just lose it. — Mike Tyson

The best players in any high-stakes field - business, entertainment, law, surgery, as well as sport - recognize that pressure occurs at the moments when meaningful accomplishment is possible. In fact, that is the reason why performers perform: for the opportunity to tackle challenges head on, to do something significant, to demonstrate what their hard work and talent can produce. — John Eliot

"Chess has definitely helped me understand a lot of the strategy of football. In chess, good offense is often an exercise in putting multiple points of pressure on one square. In football, offensive play design (particularly passes) involves putting multiple points of pressure on one player." "In chess, you often give your opponent a move that looks strong for him, but it turns into a trap. Football is the same way. I've always thought of defense in football as being totally reactive. But now I understand the ways in which football defenses force the offense to make certain choices." — Reggie Rivers

Part of the beauty and much of the moral seriousness of sport derives from the severe justice of strenuous play in a circumscribed universe of rules that protect the integrity of competition. Records are worth recording, and worth striving to surpass, because they serve as benchmarks of excellence achieved under the pressure of competition. — George Will

I grew up on the beach and played side-out scoring all my life, but rally scoring is better for our sport. There is pressure on every play. You can't make a mistake, but that also means your opponent can't make a mistake. It makes the matches more exciting to watch. — Holly McPeak

Someone who doesn't make the (Olympic) team might weep and collapse. In my day no one fell on the track and cried like a baby. We lost gracefully. And when someone won, he didn't act like he'd just become king of the world, either. Athletes in my day were simply humble in our victory.
I believe we were more mature then ... Maybe it's because the media puts so much pressure on athletes; maybe it's also the money. In my day we competed for the love of the sport ... In my day we patted the guy who beat us on the back, wished him well, and that was it. — Louis Zamperini

I don't give a toss about pressure. I spent afternoon sleeping and playing Playstation. Then I went out and won the World Cup. — Andrea Pirlo

The goal is to keep having fun. Not let that pressure get to me and still be Missy. — Missy Franklin

Many high school students are under so much competitive pressure. They are sometimes taught that if they don't have a 4.0 GPA, score in the 99th percentile on admissions tests, and demonstrate leadership in sports and participate in clubs, they won't get into college anywhere. Even highly credentialed professionals get caught up in this. — Elizabeth Thornton