4 tips and tricks to create match-winning confidence

Confidence is a universal concept in modern sport, and a key factor in determining how well you perform.

Before Mindsport outlines ways to improve confidence, it may be of use to identify whether you are an athlete that has high or low confidence.

If you are an athlete suffering from low confidence:

Its important to view mistakes and setbacks in sport as essential stepping stones in your career. Embrace mistakes and disappointments as fundamental components of your career, and they will lose their capacity to damage your confidence. Also regard losses as experiences that hold valuable information about yourself, highlighting areas where you need to improve, as another tool to meet set-backs constructively.

It sounds contradictory but if you can integrate this approach into your sporting regime you may never feel frustrated, angry, or disappointed again. An ability to extract the positives from all sporting events is one of the most important and powerful strategies you can possess.

Write down at least 3 things you learn after every loss, to improve your progression as an athlete. This can be done individually, or if you are part of a team as a group exercise.

Famous individuals from all walks of life have talked about the importance of making every experience work for them in a positive way.

Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb spoke publicly about the importance of making mistakes. After his seven hundredth unsuccessful attempt to invent an electric light he spoke to the media about his efforts:

‘I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated all the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.’

Start Again, Simply

Often in sport, immediately after making a mistake in the field of play you feel the need to compensate for the error, and try an over elaborate action. Doing this you increase the likelihood of making two consecutive errors, and as a consequence you run the risk of damaging your confidence.

Directly after making a mistake start again simply. This increases the probability of a successful completion, helping to erase any negative mental impact the initial mistake may have had. Once the simple, successful completion has been made you are in a positive place to push beyond your comfort zone and try something more elaborate.

‘Simplicity is genius’ Anonymous

Mental rehearsal is commonly referred to as visualisation, however this is misleading. The power of your imagination does not only apply to visuals, but to sounds, feelings, and tactile sensations. Fortunately the brain does not differentiate between real and imagined events making it a formidable tool if used regularly. Vivid dreams are a prime example of how powerful your imagination can be.

Before training or competitive games mentally rehearse how you want your future performance to unfold. Close your eyes, and take three deep breaths. Once you are relaxed, imagine you are watching yourself on a large TV screen. See yourself playing well, and notice the sounds and feelings that accompany this image. For the greatest impact make the image bold, bright and full of vivid colour, and the sounds loud and clear. When you have created a clear picture drift into it and view everything from your own eyes. The more you practice this, the more vivid your mental experience will become.

By completing this exercise you programme your mind to attract positive and successful outcomes.

Often when you are suffering from bouts of low confidence, there is a tendency to try too hard, in an attempt to force yourself out of the poor run of form. This is inadvisable because the harder you struggle to rediscover your best, the further you push it beyond your grasp.

In order to regain your form pitch your efforts in between being too relaxed and trying too hard. Find the middle ground between these two opposites to rediscover your best form. It is only through relaxed excellence that we can enter what sportsmen like to call ‘the zone.’

‘You can have anything you want, providing you first let go of wanting it’

Lester Levenson


This article was provided by Mindsport Ltd. Please review our sport psychology training services here.

Click here for more tips and tricks to improve confidence