“Confidence is KING!”
This little phrase is a takeoff from the business term, “cash is king”.
In the financial world, “cash is king” is a slang term reflecting the belief that money (cash) is more valuable than any other form of investment. Without the proper amount of cash, a business can go bankrupt and failed to hit their business objectives.
Likewise, an athlete without sufficient confidence will struggle in sporting competitions and fall short of reaching their true potential.
In the world of sport, ‘confidence is king’ is an axiom accepted by every athlete, coach, parent, spectator, and commentator. High confidence is more valuable than all other forms of investment in athletic performance. Confidence is more important than technique, training, natural ability, strength, body type, etc.
You can have all the ability in the world but, without confidence, you will fall short of reaching your athletic potential.
You can have the best work ethic and near-perfect technique but without confidence, you will fall short of what you could truly produce in the athletic arena.
To succeed in sport, you should build your sport confidence portfolio every day. An investment in confidence will pay big dividends in both short-term and long-term athletic success.
4 Effective Sport Confidence Strategies
The following four strategies are valuable, effective resources that will help you build the confidence necessary to achieve your athletic goals and reveal some of your potential that is just waiting to be discovered.
- Fighter Name – Boxers and MMA fighters have nicknames that usually encompass a fighter’s foremost attributes. When a fighter gets announced into the ring that nickname is the high point of excitement for a fighter and a mental signal that he or she is ready to go. Try giving yourself a nickname, one that inspires confidence and signifies how you want to compete. For example,if you want to inspire a sense of poise, your nickname could be “Cool Hand” or “The Chill One”. If you want to inspire a fighting spirit, your fighter name can be “The Warrior” or “Crusher”. Make the name your guiding force as to how you want to compete, a name that inspires confidence.
- Hall of Fame Speech – Prior to an athlete being inducted a Hall of Fame, the person who introduces the athlete will recite the athlete’s accomplishments and positive attributes that contributed to their success in the sport. Take time each day to image a speech being given for you. The speech should be geared to your positive aspects, qualities, and successes. When you image this experience, feel the positive emotions that you would feel as you listen to the positive testimonial of your athletic career as given by one of your peers.
- Top-10 Highlights – Sports network TV programs often show the top highlights of the previous day that are awe-inspiring (buzzer-beaters, holes-in-one, walk off homeruns, game saving stops, etc). Create your own Top-10 list. Identify your best moments, plays, games and comebacks and build your own highlight reel. Mentally watch your highlight reel before going to sleep and before competitions. When you relive successes, confidence grows exponentially.
- Care to Prepare – The more you prepare, the more your confidence grows. Preparation is the most effective method to build confidence. For that reason, it is important to pay full attention to your mental and physical preparation. Even paying attention to the little things pays big dividends. One way to prepare for competitions is to have a focus plan for practice. Instead of going through the motions during practice, identify 2-3 areas that you want to focus on each training session. Training with a specified purpose will help your preparation, confidence, and competitive performances as well.
Your confidence is your responsibility and does not happen by chance… So take charge of your confidence today!