The scariest part of sparring is the first bow. After the first exchange, your brain gets too busy to be scared.

Dread lives in the waiting much more than in the doing. Before anything starts, your head has nothing to work on except inventing ways it could go wrong. The moment it begins, your attention gets pulled into distance and footwork and there is no room left over for fear. The anticipation is the hard part; the thing itself is mostly just work.

So shorten the waiting. Arrive, warm up, and get the first round going rather than standing around rehearsing it. Whatever you are dreading this week, start it ten minutes earlier than planned.