You just have to be yourself and go full with confidence and be courageous.
Gabby Douglas–Olympic Gold Medalist

Sports psychology for basketball emphasizes the necessity of a strong personal confidence for any player to experience success both on and off the court. Basketball mental toughness incorporates the ability to maintain focus and confidence in their abilities, even when things don’t go as planned.

All athletes experience setbacks, either in competition or due to injury, but those with mental toughness learn to keep their mindset focused on positive thoughts thus strengthening their confidence rather than diminishing it. The mental game of basketball requires that a player develop and support their overall confidence with as much effort as they devote to their physical skills.

A coach understands the importance of encouraging team confidence through both mental and physical preparation. The successful athlete also recognizes the significance of developing confidence on a personal level as well. Basketball psychology promotes the idea of forming several personal sources of confidence. An athlete gains basketball mental toughness when they maintain their focus on positive play, and not poor performance or pain.

Confidence stems from the belief in one’s ability to perform, and not on the possibility of failure. Michael Jordan expressed this best when he stated, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” The confident athlete is willing to overlook the risk of failure, and focus on positive outcomes.

Another avenue for building confidence is from an athlete’s teammates. It is great for a coach to foster confidence amongst the players by encouraging them to offer positive affirmations to each other. Learning to accept praise from teammates pushes a player to become more self-assured. Developing a true basketball mental toughness not only affects a player individually, but also improves the mindset of their teammates as well.

When asked about the effects of his teammates, LeBron praised them by saying, “Your teammates give you the confidence. They give me the confidence all year, all postseason.”

The mentally tough athlete gains personal confidence when they view every possible challenge, whether in practice or competition, as a means towards being well prepared. The acceptance that there inevitable mistakes are part of the process allows the athlete to simply move forward rather than allowing a negative focus to create more poor performance. Sports psychologists and mental game coaches stress the need to analyze performance constantly, but then maintain positive focus on accomplishing goals, rather than expending mental energy worrying about negative execution.

Successful basketball athletes strive for continual improvement in their game. The mentally tough athlete understands the importance of developing a strong personal confidence to withstand the down times in performance, or injury rehabilitation. Deliberately choosing to maintain a positive outlook is an attribute that winners learn to achieve.

Confidence scores points, and points wins games.