In my opinion, confidence is vital to success in life. Of course we need to balance true confidence with being arrogant. Even as an adult I struggle with having self confidence and I know that I am not alone in this struggle. It is very easy to become overwhelmed with all the abilities of those around me and to start doubting my own skills and abilities. If there was only one thing I could give my students and players, it would be self confidence. The feeling that you are worthy and are able is powerful.
Many of my students this year struggled with confidence. They feared failure and were afraid to make a mistake. For some of them, this fear was so great that they refused to participate in class activities. To see a student in elementary school so afraid to mess up was heartbreaking for me. After all, it is music class and it is supposed to be fun. Confidence is hard to build, but easily destroyed.
I describe my softball team this year as a group of "no confidence talent". I coach at a small school and our school is not known for its athletic abilities. Many athletes saw success in middle school, but many of our teams struggle at the high school level (at least in recent years.) Throughout the season I was routinely told by my players how good another team or player was and how much better they were than us. The interesting part is that at the end of the season, the top offensive players on our team matched up statistically with the top players from other teams in our conference. I tend to over simplify things, but our struggles this season had little to do with ability and a lot to do with our confidence or lack there of.
How do you help your students and athletes build their self confidence? Thank you for reading.
"Remember, confidence comes from knowing you are mentally and physically prepared. Not simply from past results."
-Jamie Gilbert
Train 2B Clutch
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