Conquering the doubts.
As athletes, we train and push our bodies to be the best they can be. We come to practice early, stay for extra reps, and do it all over again the next day. In all that practicing and perfecting, we forget to train the most important factor of our game; our mindset.
As a former athlete myself, I can recall all the workouts, conditioning, training, and studying. I remember early mornings in the weight room, hot afternoons on the softball field, and late nights in studyhall. But one thing I can never recall, is taking the time to work on my mental game. Throughout my career, many of my failures did not come from lack of skill but rather lack of confidence in myself and my abilities. I remember having all the confidence in the world when it came to practice. My swing was lose, my body was relaxed, and my mind was clear. I would hit ball after ball over the fence, only gaining confidence from swing to swing. Unfortunately, during the games everything was different.
As some athletes can relate, game situations come with a lot more pressure than practices do. Some athletes thrive while others fall. Unfortunately, the pressures of the game would consume me and my failures would be the only thing I could think about. During key moments of the game, I would tense uop and start to think about all the things that could go wrong. The homerun hitting, full of confidence, and ready to win girl was no where to be found. During the first three years of my career, this was a constant cycle. It was not until my last year I decided that I had to change something. I trained harder in the weight room, but most of my focus was on my mindset. I read countless books on how to be mentally strong, watched motivational speaker events, and even listened to podcasts that helped create a strong mindset. I challenged myself to use my failures as learning opportunities. I always spoke positivity to myself and focused my energy on building myself up. My focus was to silence the doubts that constantly filled my head. As my season started, I challenged myself to carry this changed mindset into each game.
As each game passed, I noticed such a huge change in my game and attitude. I started seeing consistancy in both my skills and mindset. Key moments where I would usually fall to pressure, I was now succeeding. I used to hate the big moments and now I found myself wanting to be the one who saved the game. I was ready both physically and mentally. I knew I was ready and it showed. I ended my career as an All-American and I made the All-SEC team as well as the All-Defensive team. As I reflected on my career, I realized my success came from the changes I made with my mental game. I finished my career as a confident and strong player who believed in herself. I no longer doubted my skills or my value. But most importantly, I was able to take this attitude and newfound confidence to my everyday life. I carry myself differently and I know I can handle anything life throws at me. As an athlete it’s important to train all aspects of the game both physically and mentally. As a former athlete and now coach, I train my athletes to never quit on the field and to be warriors in their minds. When I see them in action, I can see the doubts being silenced by their overwhelming confidence and hunger to win.
