Many factors play into achieving an ideal performance state mentally, and they vary from individual to individual. Some guys like to chug Red Bull and bounce around, others put on a pair of headphones, seclude themselves and fade into a relaxed, zen-like sort of zone. It’s apples to oranges, but there’s one fruit that pleases the palette of every competitor.

Confidence. It’s one of the keys to life and a key that opens many doors in surfing. A confident surfer trusts their boards. A confident surfer trusts him or herself. A confident surfer wins.

If you watch a WCT event closely, anxiety is as detectable as a fluorescent paint job. It’s shows in their mannerisms, in their surfing, in their scores and in their results. Kolohe Andino, for one, hasn’t been in the best headspace this year. Nor has Brett Simpson. And what about our friend Jeremy?

The Jeremy vs Mitch Crews heat is a perfect example. Mitch and Jeremy are fairly matched in terms of talent. They were both given the same opportunity – 30 minutes of empty waves at head-high Bells Beach. It was all laid out for them.

It all boils all down to his decision-making: deciding which waves to catch, deciding what to do on those waves, deciding what to do with priority. And on a world-class level, you have to decide with confidence if you want to win. The bottom line is that Mitch went into that heat confident. He went into feeling like was going to win and trusted that he was going to win. As a result, he made all the right decisions. And Jeremy lost before they had even paddled out.