CONFIDENCE

Question
HELLO,

I HAVE A QUESTION.I HAVE PLAYED BASKETBALL FOR A GOOD 4 YEARS.THE PROBLEM THAT I HAVE IS CONFIDENCE I DONT KNOW IAM GOOD I HAVE BEEN TOLD.BUT SOMETIMES WHEN I SEE REALLY GOOD KIDS PLAY AND I HAVE TO PLAY AGAINST THEM I DONT HAVE A CONFIDENCE IN MY SKILLS.WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?I HAVE GOT ALOT BETTER WITH IT BUT IAM STILL HAVING THAT ISSUE.I PLAYED ON MY MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM WE WENT ALL THE WAY TO COUNTY AND WON.I PLAYED BUT NOT ALOT.ANY THAT YOU CAN HELP I WILL APPERICATE IT.

Answer
Hello Timothy

Most of the time, confidence is about perspective.  We learn to measure how good we are by comparing ourselves to others, but sometimes it's inaccurate.  We also tend to focus on what we did wrong, or not as well as we wanted to, and not how great we've done.  EVERYONE has strengths in different areas.  I've seen that hundreds of times with athletes.  Those really good kids you see play you mentioned might be envious of some strength or skill YOU have!  If you played at ALL on your team that went to county and won, then you HAD to be good because there is a LOT of pressure on coaches to win, and coaches play players who can help the team win.

Here's something I want you to do that can help get your perspective back on track.  I want you to sit down with a pencil and paper and start writing down EVERY good experience you've had in basketball since you started playing.  Every good shot, every good pass, every good dribble.  Write down EVERYTHING you did good, that felt good.  POSITIVE ONLY!!

I bet that's a HUGE list.  It has to be.  And that's what you think about when you play, or even think about playing, every good experience you've had playing basketball.  I read that's what Michael Jordan would do, he'd think about all the successes he'd had, and that helped him have even more.  And it can help you too!

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

David

David Kenward, The Mental Coach
Sacramento, California
http://www.thementalcoach.com
Win the Mental Game: Perform better under pressure in any sport
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