At a reunion of my college football teams one of my former teammates, who spent years coaching football and baseball said something that stuck with me.
“The smell of fear is a powerful stink. Opponents can smell it first but it travels to coaches and into the stands so the fans can smell it also.”
That stink has to be dealt with in practice. If you have stage fright you must get to the root of it and deal with it. I remember a match in the old days when I started shaking like a leaf and choked all up and could not figure why. A friend of mine pointed out that I had recently been named USA head coach and people came around to watch me play. People wanted to see how good this guy was who was calling the shots for team USA. Once I realized I was trying to be perfect for the new people watching I was able to deal with it. I loved competing and still do. I was a lousy loser and still am. I have learned to cover it up with a smile in my old age, but I hate it. The only way to deal with fear is to face it down. Make yourself play under pressure and perform under pressure. I thought when I got the USA Head coaching job in the 90s I’d be working with confident athletes. Guess what? We all have the same fears and some of us hide it better than others.
I suggest players find a way to quiet themselves. A good place to start is with an old book:
The New Toughness Training for Sports: Mental Emotional Physical Conditioning from One of the World’s Premier Sports Psychologists
by James E. Loehr and Chris Evert
And another book:
The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive
by Jim Afremow and Jim Craig
Both are filled with good tips and exercises to reach the mental zone. Trust that mental practice and go for it!