Developing Players Confidence

Player confidence at all levels of play, from youth recreational to the professional athlete, is fragile. Handle with care! The challenge with building confidence is that it is such a fragile construct. An athlete might be confident one minute and then a play or two later have their confidence shattered. The key is not eliminating all doubts and fear, but having the player muster up enough confidence to perform despite the doubts and distractions.

As a coach, you play a prominent role in both the development and maintenance of your athlete's confidence. You can proactively build confidence until it becomes solid and stable and then monitor and repair it during the inevitable storms. Here are a few steps to building, maintaining, and repairing player confidence.

1. Describe what is possible: Building confidence begins with seeing the player future and describing them as a polished player even though they may be pretty rough. Do not get caught up with what they can do today but describe what they can do tomorrow.

2. Develop a simple specific actionable plan: Once you have describe what is possible, take them through the daily and weekly steps necessary to obtain their potential. Highlight the specific, yet simple, activities and achievements necessary for success by breaking down your vision into short and medium term actionable steps.

3. Enable their belief: Coaches get players to achieve their potential by selling them on their own unique abilities and talents. Set high expectations and get them to believe that they are capable of achieving those expectations by highlighting proof points along the way. This helps athletes get out of their own way and build confidence that overcomes their self-imposed doubts and fears.

4. Create early and often successes: Building confidence requires proof points of success. Confidence is most fragile in the early stages, so structure practices and schedules to build in early successes. Work toward success early and then let them succeed.

5. Emphasize hard work deserves success: Athletes earn victory only through hard work. Hard work is not a sacrifice; it is something that is good for them and an investment in their potential. Every time they go the extra mile, they are earning an advantage over their competition.

6. Reinforce the positive: Look for opportunities to praise early successes publicly. By accentuating the strengths, a solid foundation of confidence is built that can be leveraged in the future. When players struggle with success, tell them you believe in them. Tell them to trust themselves, that they are better than they currently believe they are.

As a coach, what you say and do does more to create a player's confidence than any specific action by the player. If you can see the players' and team's potential, articulate a vision with actionable steps, create early success that can be reinforced, then your team will play with confidence and achieve many successes.

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