How do you get over the fear of tryouts?

Tryouts are in may ways analogous to an interview for a position. You are asked to demonstrate your skills, and there is always the fear that you might mess it up. The best thing you can do is to go into the tryout prepared the best you can do the best you can do. It sounds like you have the proper skills set, so if you are well rested and prepared to do your best, no one should be able to ask any more of you.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the result of not trying out in the first place is no different than the result of failing—except that failing at least comes with extra experience. Just by being there you are already better off.

Second, you are never going to show a seasoned judge something they haven’t seen before. You aren’t there to amaze them, you are there to show them that you have command of all the basic skills involved. Being good at something like tennis doesn’t mean getting it right every time. It means getting it right most of the time. So if you mess up a technique or two, that’s just part of the game. And how you recover from it is another part of the game.

Let whatever will be will be.

First of all, “tryouts” means just that, and how much money and your moms feelings do not count, at all. You TRY things out to see of you are a fit for something, sometimes you are, sometimes you’re not. This has nothing to do with money or your ability. Everyone is good at some-thing (s) and not so good at others.

We have a 15k horse up for sale here because of a loss of interest in using her for her breeding and competitive background. Tried it for a year, not working out, so she will be sold and on to the next “tryout.”
DO NOT let your mom lay a guilt trip on you if tennis is not your calling. My daughter is 27 now and I encouraged her to try lots of things and never held the expense card against her.
Do what interests YOU, not anyone else.

@Coloma Tennis DOES interest me. I enjoy it. For my family, price and equipment DO matter because we have a limited amount. Also, I am asking for advice, NOT opinion.

@kimchi Well good, all I am saying is don’t feel bad or guilty about the money if you don’t make the tryouts because that is what try outs are…try outs. I wish you the best.

The way to get over any kind of fear is to see that the thing you’re afraid of can’t hurt you in any way that really matters. You’ve failed tryouts before, and life has gone on, right? Just do your best and try to keep things in the proper perspective.

One good thing about tennis in particular is that it is a lifetime sport. You can play it when you are old, unlike many sports. You can also play it on dates. If you enjoy it, the time and money you’ve put into it will not be wasted even if you don’t make the team.