Skyler Girdley had a difficult assignment at the state wrestling tournament. If he was nervous – and nobody inside Grand Casino Arena would have blamed him – he didn’t show it.

Girdley is normally Brainerd High’s backup in the 189-pound weight class. For strategic purposes, his coaches moved their regular 189-pounder to a higher weight class in the Class 3A team quarterfinals and slid Girdley, a sophomore, into the lineup to face St. Michael-Albertville’s John Murphy, a two-time state champion, future Gopher and imposing figure who has not lost a match in two seasons.

The match ended in a pin. Girdley didn’t do the pinning. He walked off the mat a winner, though, because he had the guts to step into the center of the circle, with nobody else to lean on.

“It’s just you,” he said afterward. “You against him.”

Pressure is part of every sport, but that pressure is a shared burden in team sports. Even if a player makes a critical mistake, the mantra is true: Win as a team, lose as a team.

Athletes in individual sports cannot blend in. There is nowhere to hide. On a wrestling mat, diving board or gymnastics apparatus, it’s you and only you.

“It is very nerve-racking,” said Hopkins senior gymnast NyahSymone Britt, who won vault and placed fourth in all-around at the state meet last week. “It’s very stressful. Sometimes you just can’t really stop shaking almost, because you’re so nervous. When you have all eyes on you, you can feel it. And it’s very strong.”

Powerful words from one of the best in her sport. This is high school state tournament time in Minnesota. Hundreds of young athletes will find themselves in that same spot Britt described: alone in competition, all eyes trained on them, state-tournament pressure elevating their heart rates, and they know the outcome rests solely on how they perform.

Those circumstances require a blend of courage, confidence and conviction.

“When you’re just by yourself, you feel all of the tension, all the eyes, you feel everything on you,” Britt said. “But the more that I compete and more that I practice in the gym, the more the nerves go away. But it’s still a little scary to be up there.”

One of the most intimidating aspects of competition for Red Wing’s state champion diver Zach Mikkelson is what he doesn’t hear.

Noise.

“When I’m doing a dive,” he said, “it’s dead silent. It’s intense.”

The pool deck goes quiet as he stands on the 1-meter board. Mikkelson describes it as a strange sensation in diving, a phenomenon where the silence is actually “quite loud at times.” He uses a trick to combat it.

“I have a voice in my head that’s louder, telling me what I need to do,” he said. “And just to relax and trust that my hours of practicing have really paid off.”

He estimates his dives last two seconds before he hits the water. One Mississippi, two Mississippi. Done.

“All the accountability is on me,” he said. “One mistake, it’s all me.”

This week’s state meet allows eight dives in preliminary rounds and three dives in the finals. No do-overs or oopsies. It’s not like missing a layup in a basketball game where a player can sink a three-pointer on the next trip down the court.

“You have to overcome your mistakes and not let one bad thing get you down,” Mikkelson said. “It’s a lot of pressure on yourself and a lot of mental toughness.”

That internal pressure has increased as he developed into the reigning Class A state champion and expectations changed. If Mikkelson made a mistake as a freshman, nobody really paid attention. Now it’s a big deal.

“I’ve gotten more consistent,” he said, “but the mistakes almost hit a little bit harder now that I have a little bit of a reputation and expectation.”

Some combat nerves by using breathing techniques and visualization. They pretend they are alone at their practice venue and not standing under the spotlight of competition.

“I try to stay very focused and calm and just trust myself,” said East Ridge senior gymnast Laney Schwellenbach, who finished second in all-around at the state meet.

Many of these athletes either previously competed or are still active in team sports, which gives them a unique perspective. Mikkelson played multiple sports growing up. Britt was on the Hopkins flag football team this past fall. Schwellenbach played volleyball when she was younger.

“If you’re on a team and you lose, it’s easy to say, ‘No one lost the game. It’s everyone,’ ” Schwellenbach said. “When you’re by yourself, it’s a little more pressure because if you fail, you’re the one to blame. It’s hard because it’s all you.”

Brainerd’s Girdley plays linebacker on the football team. Football is the ultimate team sport. Wrestling is the antithesis of a team sport.

“In football, the pressure is on everyone,” he said, “not just me.”

He admitted to being a little nervous before facing the superstar Murphy in the team meet, but his butterflies disappeared once the match began.

His coach, Andy Pickar, said he had no qualms putting his sophomore in that position because “he’s a grinder. He’s a tough kid.”

We already knew that. How? Because Girdley is a wrestler. They’re all tough. Their sport requires a large dose of bravery to step on the mat and accept that it’s just you against the opponent, with everyone watching.