Thump…thump…thump… the sound of senior and FHN football cornerback Calvin Von Arb’s heart beats heavily at 6 p.m. every Friday night, just an hour before kickoff. Opening up his AirPod case, he puts both AirPods in to drown out all the noise that takes away his focus on the game. He opens up his phone, goes straight to his pregame playlist and drifts away. Suddenly nothing else in this world exists except him and the music. His mind is clear, his hands aren’t shaking, and he feels confident in his ability to conquer what’s ahead.

“The right music selection before a game is very important, it can make or break a game,” Von Arb said.

The music choice for a certain individual usually sets the mood of the person for a short or even long period of time, and one’s mood has some type of impact on one’s performance. From the athlete’s perspective, music plays a huge role on the outcome of a game. If the player listens to a slower-paced song, they will have a calmer state of mind along with a slower heart rate. If someone listens to a fast upbeat song before the game, they will most likely have a lot more adrenaline and less sad emotions compared to the other player who listened to the slower song.

“The impact of music on humans is well documented through history,” counselor and assistant basketball coach at FHN Konrad Laughman said. “Mesopotamia, the first civilization had music, it’s been a part of us since the very beginning and the reason it lasted is because it does have a positive impact that you can feel, you know it increases your mood, stress goes down, anxiety and depression when you’re listening to music will be down, obviously if you like the music.”

Benefits on top of benefits when it comes to music. Sports bring along plenty of stress and anxiety, especially when it comes to gameday. So listening to music before that big game can often be a good escape for athletes. According to a Healthline article on the Benefits

of Music on Body, Mind, Relationships and more “Even people facing critical illness feel less anxiety after music therapy.” Take the benefits from music to overpower all the stress and anxiety. It has been psychologically proven to lower your blood pressure and reduce heart rate and again reduce stress levels.

“It’s been a part of us since the very beginning,” Laughman said. “The reason it lasted is because it does have a positive impact that you can feel.”

He pointed out the fact that music itself has always been around and there has never been a time when it all disappeared or we all felt like we didn’t need it anymore. If athletes use music in the right way and in the right scenario, it can really give them a great advantage over their opponents.

“Music is my therapy, it keeps me on all 10, I feel like I could go to war,” senior running back Derrick Warren said.