DS plays competitive tennis, enjoys it but works himself up so much beforehand

[Absurd]

DS is 11, and has been doing athletics (mainly sprints but also middle distance) for about three years now. He trains three times a week and never has to be reminded or nagged, he just loves it.

He wants to compete. When he does, he does really well, and comes out buzzing, saying he is glad he has done it. His coaches reckon he has a lot of potential.

Trouble is, he gets himself really worked up before a meet, He can't sleep, chews his nails, and in the morning before really goes awol, refusing to get out of bed, saying he wants to stop altogether etc. However, once we get to the track, he gets into the zone, and no sign of nerves once he is warming up etc.

We don't want his fears (and we aren't sure what they are about tbh) to stop him doing something he enjoys and is good at, so am wondering if there is such a thing as a child cbt sports therapist or the like?

His coaches don't know the extent of his nerves as once he is there he seems ok, but we bear the brunt. He is prone to prefectionsim in all apsects of his life (from him, not us, I might add), and I can see that it is doing him harm.

Any suggestions? We are in London, but prepared to travel if there is a good recommendation

[Absurd]

Sorry, about the tennis/athletics confusion in the title lol! That was my failed attempt at not making DS identifiable

[quirrelquarrel]

He does sound very sensitive, but is something that a lot of people grow out of. Are you sure it's doing him harm, what makes you say this? It's hard to know.....is it impacting on other areas, school, behaviour at home etc?

Sorry to hear that he's getting stressed about it- but perhaps it's not bad that he's experiencing that sort of thing with a hobby now (even if it's very important to him) rather than big school exams later on. It does sound like he is the type of person who would get worked up over other things. So in the future, remembering the fact that he made himself do it in spite of stress might give him a confidence boost.