Written by Yesterday, Bryce Strecker wrote an in-depth and exceptional article about confidence. If you have not had an opportunity, please take the time to read “The Start of the Confidence Rabbit Hole”. Bryce does not discuss about an athlete’s confidence and correlation to their success, but rather the complexities of the many different types of confidence that are involved in an athlete.
Bryce stated that coaches and the athlete’s support structure want the “athletes to have high levels of confidence in multiple things”. Confidence comes in many forms and needs to cultivated by and for the athlete. Coaches must be an instrumental part of this process, which starts with coaches showing athletes by their actions to be confident in the coaches. Coaches can also build athletes’ confidence through practices, training, and competitions. Coaches providing their athletes and teams with competition scenarios in training and practices definitely bolsters athlete and team confidence both within themselves and their teammates.
Athletes must trust themselves, their teammates, coaches, and the entire process. As I previously stated, it can and should start with the coach…And yes, confidence really should start in their home environment, regardless of age, but not all athletes have a safe or positive home space to build that confidence. The coach facilitates athlete and coach confidence, athlete to athlete confidence, and team and athlete confidence. Sometimes this confidence comes from the social aspect of between everyone involved in training, practice, and competition and not from the athlete going through repetitions.
Athletes on the team can even support the confidence building process by having the team believe in each athlete and that athlete’s role to the team. If the team has confidence in each of their athletes and the role that the athlete fills, that is a great confidence builder that helps not only one athlete, but all. This confidence process even works for individual sports, like swimming, running, and so many others, where a team or at least more than one person trains together. If an athlete has confidence that their training partner will help them get better, that also builds both athlete’s confidence even further. If an athlete does not have confidence in their coach, that will probably result in the athlete not training and competing at their highest level because of a lack of trust in the coach, in themselves, the training process, and abilities in competition.
Sports are a natural confidence builder…or destroyer. Coaches, support, and front office staff need to facilitate positive trust within the staff, with athletes, and the team. Creativity, skill, endurance, and so many other things are amplified by confidence. Confidence cannot be something that athletes will eventually figure out, it must start with the athlete’s introduction to coach, fellow athletes, and team.