Confidence is a must if you or your athletes want to perform at their peak. However, confidence can be very fragile for some athletes. Too often, after athletes miss a shot, drop a ball, mess up a tumbling pass or make some other mistake, they judge their performance and dwell on the mistake over and over in their mind.
Judging your performance and holding onto mistakes can hurt confidence, sometimes to the point where you play it safe and avoid making another shot or attempt. If you want to be a consistent performer, you need to solve the confidence riddle.
Remind yourself that the more you miss, the greater the chance of making the next one! Avoid analyzing or judging the miss as this leads to a lack of trust in your shot or overthinking. Instead, focus on the next play or chance.
Dr. Patrick Cohn is a sports psychology coach to junior, collegiate, and professional athletes at Peak Performance Sports, LLC.
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