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What Hurts Kids’ Confidence in Sports: Part 2

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In articles past, we’ve discussed the top five confidence busters. Why are these so important? It’s simple. Athletes can’t achieve their potential without feeling confident. Here are the next five confidence busters for sports kids:

Having trouble letting go of negative experiences

All athletes have been through rough experiences. Great athletes, however, don’t let these experiences hinder their performance. They can quickly adopt and get past their mistakes, then focus on the moment. However, athletes who dwell on past mistakes often struggle with confidence issues and perform tentatively for fear of making more mistakes. For example, a skater may avoid a certain jump because last time she performed, she fell and scored badly.

Lacking confidence in method or mechanics

Kids and teens who don’t believe in their method, coaching or mechanics have trouble believing in their abilities. Many perfectionists think they must have perfect mechanics in order to perform well or win. When something does not feel just right, they may doubt their abilities.

Worrying about making mistakes

Athletes who focus too much on avoiding mistakes doubt their ability to perform well. After missing a few shots, falling down or otherwise goofing up, they try to avoid the same mistakes. These athletes might stop shooting if they miss two shots in a row, for example. The doubt consumes their thinking quickly. Making errors in competition is a huge confidence buster for many athletes. They don’t yet possess a stable level of confidence. Their confidence fluctuates with every play.

Experiencing nagging injuries

Unfortunately, injuries are a part of sports. When kids focus too much on the injury, they have a hard time performing their best. Their worries about not being 100% physically fit can cause their confidence to sink. Kids who aren’t 100% physically fit may use their injuries as an excuse to stop playing their best.

Experiencing poor pre-game warm-up

We mentioned earlier that many athletes gain confidence from their practice and training. If they judge their warm-up harshly prior to playing, they lose confidence. They begin to think that a poor warm up translates into playing poorly in the game. This is called a false over-generalization. Their doubts start to sabotage their confidence before the game even starts and their worries become self-fulfilling prophecies.