“Confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles you to succeed” —- Pat Summitt

How’s your confidence on the basketball court?

A healthy level of confidence is very important for a good basketball mental game. It will make you more likely to engage in the challenging but manageable situations and support you to achieve your goals.

When you are challenged or under pressure your confidence may be impacted. Developing this aspect of basketball mental toughness can go a long way to support you on the court.

Success on the court is 90% mental. When we think about what really causes a person to go beyond their capabilities, we can’t overlook the importance of mentally pushing beyond the comfort level of physical abilities.

Athletes who want to accomplish more need to push themselves physically further than they thought they could go. When you force yourself to be uncomfortable, and in many cases extremely uncomfortable, the natural result is an increased belief in self. Belief in self, or self-confidence, is the number one variable associated with mental toughness.

When an athlete gets on the treadmill and decides to extend his or her daily 30-minute run by an extra 5 minutes, or adds an extra set of push-ups to the end of the normal workout routine, he or she will immediately experience an increase in self-confidence.

This surge of confidence gets transferred to other aspects of daily behavior and mindset like: self-image, sense of goal achievement, willingness to be outgoing, sense of optimism, well-being, and so on.

A less talented, but highly confident athlete who pushes him or herself to the very limit, may realize the intended short and long term goals, and eventually achieve goals and awards not achieved by athletes with lots of raw talent and a series of wasted opportunities.

Athletes who are confident know ways to regulate their anxiety and remain mentally tough during competition.

Experts in the fields of sports psychology and athletic performance have found that confidence level determines the tasks we choose to undertake, the items and activities we choose to give attention to, and the effort we put into those things.

It also determines our levels of adaptability and resiliency and oftentimes whether we choose to lead or follow.

Developing confidence through basketball mental toughness can help you be more emotionally resilient, push you to go further and harder, and build armor to persevere against the bullets that life fires your way.

To build your confidence you must change the way you think.

A 100% of the time it is 90% mental.
Confidence is a mind-set skill that doesn’t just happen by chance. You must work at it.

To build your confidence, specific strategies are required. These strategies can be found in my workbook – An Athletes Guide to Peak Performance Series Building Confidence

Go to sportspsychologybasketball.com. Click products and get started on Building Your Confidence with Sports Performance Top Mental Game Coach.