How Coaches Can Help Their Athlete’s Confidence

In my book, “The Confident Athlete” (https://r2lc.com/the-confident-athlete-4-easy-steps-to-build-and-maintain-confidence/), one of the common confidence mistakes I discuss is the belief that people can take away your confidence.  However as Eleanor Roosevelt  said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  If someone takes away another’s confidence that person is making the choice to allow them to do so. While it takes work to develop the habits and skills not to let this happen, no one can take away another’s confidence without their consent.  Confidence is your responsibility.

While that is true, I do believe coaches, parents, etc. can help reinforce or get their athletes on the right track toward confidence.  Here is one way in each of my 4 areas of confidence that coaches can take to help build or maintain their athlete’s confidence.

  1.  Talk the Talk-  Text players (it doesn’t need to be all of your team but a few players each day or after each contest) and give them specific compliments or genuine pick me uppers. For example, “I just wanted you to know, I saw how you put in the work today” or “Keep your head up.  I believe in you and know you will get past this.”  This simple act can be powerful.
  2. Walk the Walk-  As Pete Carroll said, “be a poker player or a cheerleader”.  If an athlete is struggling with their confidence and they mess up have a poker face or be a cheerleader encouraging them to continue to fight through.  Athlete’s often read the body language of their coaches (parents as well) for feedback.
  3. See It Be It- Plant images of success in your athletes’ minds.  Create the picture you want them to see of either them having success or the team having success.  Then encourage them to see it daily.
  4. Prepare- Teach and encourage athletes to take care of their bodies through proper nutrition, recovery, stretching, etc.  The more one takes care of their body and gets to know it better, the more confidence they will naturally have.  A body that is running smoothly will be more confident.

Again, ultimately it is the athlete’s responsibility to be confident but good coaches will look for ways to help their athletes confidence grow.  I have only provided a few examples but there are numerous ways coaches can help build confidence.  I would love to hear what you as a coach are doing/have done that has created confidence in your athletes.  Please share your ideas on twitter @tamimatheny (The Confident Athlete).

Tami Matheny is a Mental Game Coach and Author.  For more confidence building advice, check out “The Confident Athlete: 4 Easy Steps to Build and Maintain Confidence” online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. (https://r2lc.com/the-confident-athlete-4-easy-steps-to-build-and-maintain-confidence/) or follow on twitter @tamimatheny.

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