“When you go out on the court whether it be for the championship or just a scrimmage, have confidence that your abilities and what you’ve learned in your drills are better than your opponent’s. This does not mean you should disregard your opponent. Before taking the court for any game, you should do a lot of thinking about what you have to do to beat your opponent and what he must or can do to beat you.” – Bob Pettit

The mental game in basketball is comprised of many factors; one of those factors is confidence. Having confidence in one’s own ability can provide an athlete with a superior state of basketball mental toughness; which in turn can help in reaching peak performance.

Athlete’s that lack this vital component often find themselves experiencing unwanted thoughts and emotions that tend to be counterproductive to their mental game and therefore also to their performance.

Basketball athlete’s that allow their thoughts to wonder to various aspects of the game that are beyond their control take away precious mental processing power that could otherwise be applied to matters that can enhance their performance.

By focusing on pointless matters an athlete also runs the risk of inducing worry, stress, anxiety and tension. These “negative” and unwanted emotions can lead to the fear of failure (where an athlete is more concerned with not making mistakes) or freezing up during situations when any form of hesitation can lead to missed opportunities.

Experienced coaches that are also knowledgeable about the sports psychology for basketball and who can also read their players well can aid an athlete when they are going through a bout of low confidence.

Although this is often an effective way to snap an athlete out of a weak mental state this approach to managing an athlete’s confidence is not always ideal.

By over relying on a coach to calibrate an athlete’s confidence there is a risk of becoming over reliant on that external factor (i.e. a pep talk from the coach).

A coach cannot be there at all times to work his magic to elevate an athlete. Athletes that have learned to take responsibility for and manage their own confidence on game day are the ones that tend to excel on the court when all other things are equal.

An athlete with confidence believes and knows that they will play well; they are able to remain relaxed during competition as they rarely get anxious or worry about things (they take everything in their stride) and they also know how to focus on performing correctly.

Most athletes can take control and work on their pregame confidence by consistently thinking and behaving in a confident way.

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