Before a sporting event
Understanding and dealing with the uncertainty of selection outcomes
Before a sporting event
Understanding and dealing with the uncertainty of selection outcomes
Co-author: Véronique Boudreault, PhD, PsyD, CMPC® and holder of the Aléo research chair
Waiting to find out if you’ve qualified for a competition or team can be an emotionally intense experience. You’ve trained hard, invested a lot of energy, and you know that the decision that’s about to be made could have a major impact on your athletic career. At such times, it’s normal to feel stressed, doubtful, or impatient.
In this article, you’ll find practical advice on how to prepare yourself for the different possible outcomes—whether you’re selected or not—so you can navigate this period of uncertainty with greater balance and maintain a healthy relationship with performance, regardless of the result.
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Why is it so difficult to tolerate uncertainty?
Uncertainty is difficult for everyone, even experienced athletes. Our brains like to be able to predict what’s going to happen next. When we’re waiting for important news, the brain often starts to make predictions: It imagines different outcomes, compares our performance to others’, and replays memories on a loop.
The higher the stakes seem to be for your future, your sense of accomplishment, and your self-image, the more intense the feeling of anticipation can become.
Before a selection, you may feel a variety of different emotions:
- Stress or nervousness
- Anxiety, which can sometimes cause physical symptoms (heart beating faster, knots in your stomach, tension in your body)
- Excitement or hope
- Pride in your accomplishments
All of these reactions are normal. You may also find yourself fixating on the event, with “what if . . .” thoughts regularly popping into your head. You might have trouble sleeping or a harder time concentrating. This doesn’t mean you’re not ready: In fact, it’s often a sign that your brain is trying to prepare itself for an important moment.
Here are a few tips to help you cope with the two possible qualification scenarios and learn to live with uncertainty.
Scenario 1: You don’t qualify for your competition
It can be hard to learn you weren’t selected after putting in months of preparation. And often, our brains quickly jump from “I wasn’t chosen” to “I’m not good enough.” These thoughts seem convincing because they come with strong emotions.
❌ It’s important to remember that thoughts aren’t facts.
There are many factors involved in the selection process: The level of competition, the criteria used, the athlete’s condition that day, and sometimes even technical details. Not qualifying is a momentary disappointment, not a personal failure.
In the hours or days after the results are announced, taking care of yourself should be your priority:
- Talk to someone you trust
- Write down what you feel
- Sleep, recover, and gently move your body
- Maintain a simple routine
It can also be helpful to take a break from comparisons and social media, which tend to amplify feelings of failure.
With a little perspective, this period can become a learning opportunity. You can ask yourself: What helped? What could be improved? What factors were outside my control?
And above all, remember that your worth as an athlete extends well beyond your results. Progress, consistency, and your ability to learn and bounce back are all part of the journey.
📌For more on this topic, see our fact sheet I’m More than My Athletic Performance and explore who you are outside of your sport.
Download info sheetScenario 2: You do qualify for your competition
If you are selected, you may feel a huge sense of relief, but you might also be faced with a new form of uncertainty. Before the selection, you were focused on whether or not you would be chosen. Now, you might be worried about your performance or feel like you have to prove that you deserve your spot.
In these moments, excitement and pressure can coexist. Thoughts like “I have to do well” or “I can’t mess up” may only add to the pressure. Focusing on what you can control often transforms this energy into motivation.
This might look like:
- Maintaining your routines and prioritizing recovery
- Setting process-focused goals rather than results-focused goals (attitude, consistency, good form)
- Surrounding yourself with caring people
- Remembering that other people’s expectations aren’t requirements
When your brain starts to ruminate on the future with thoughts like “If I win” or “If I disappoint everyone,” bringing your attention back to the next concrete action you can take, your breathing, or your immediate environment can help you stay anchored in the present.
📌Learn to sort out your thoughts and reduce anxiety with this diagram.
Going through these moments of uncertainty is part of every athlete’s journey. Whether you’re selected or not, learning to deal with anticipation, doubt, and disappointment, and channelling them into a source of motivation, will serve you well on and off the field.
If these emotions start taking up too much space in your daily life, don’t be afraid to talk about them with a trusted adult or a health care professional.
