Hey there {{first_name}}!

Have you ever failed?
Made a mistake?
Struck out? 
Missed the shot?

And then thought...

I suck. 
I'll never be great at this. 
Why do I even try? 
I'm worthless.

Well girlfriend, those thoughts and that thinking is changing TODAY!

Watch this or read below!! 

My coach shared this practice with me called the thought model and it is seriously a game changer!!

We have unintentional thoughts that we are going to get under control and make them into INTENTIONAL thoughts.

When something happens, we have...
Thoughts that lead to...

Feelings, that lead to...

Actions, that lead to...

RESULTS
-----------------
This is what it looks like when we are unintentional with our thoughts...
C (Circumstance) = Strike out
T (Thoughts) = "I suck and I'll never be a great hitter!"
F (Feelings) = Worry, sad, frustration 
A (Action) = Dwell on it, sulk, pissed off at everything
R (Result) = Strike out again, make an error 

We don't want those RESULTS! So,...

We all run into this as parents and athletes, right?! There are going to be coaches that just aren't clicking the way we want them to. There are going to be coaches that are, let's just be honest, NEGATIVE.

That doesn't mean you have to quit, complain, give up, or feel hopeless. I've got you!

I don't coach and mentor coaches, although I've had requests (lol). But, I do coach and mentor elite girl athletes on how to create self confidence from within THEM! I am helping them create a defense for negative coaching, negative people, challenges in life, self doubt, all the hard stuff!

So here it is! The tips and tricks on how to handle negative coaching so you can help your daughter play at her best, love the game again, and achieve those big dreams of playing on the big stage in the spotlight shining like they deserve to!

1Teach your daughter how to create their own self confidence
‍Empower them to be confident independently 
‍Affirmations
‍Opinions Exercise
‍Love...

Parents OR Athlete,

What does it take to play college ball?

That's the ultimate question.

I know your end goal is for your daughter or for YOU to play college sports at the end of the road. It's the ultimate dream, right?!

It was definitely mine. I could see myself in that college uniform, on that college field, in front of fans, at the BIG school! And don't you forget, I was going to make it and be a STARTER!

Go 'Cats!

So, here is how you get there!

Dreams

Goals

Taking Action

Mentally + Physically

Here's the breakdown...

Dreams: This is the part where you dream of playing at the college level!
Be the starting catcher and bad-a$$ hitter at Northwestern University

Goals: This is the part where you start mapping out how you get to that dream and you WRITE THEM DOWN!
Lead the team in RBI's
Be the starting catcher throughout high school
Get straight A's
Be mentally tough

 Taking Action: This is the part where you do the WORK that is going to allow you to achieve your goals and...

{{first_name}}, it's what you've been waiting for! 

This is for my parents! 

Have you ever struggled with that conversation... 
After a bad day on the field or on the court? 
In a tournament? 
After a horrible game? 
After watching strike out after strike out LOOKING? 
After seeing your girl make mistake after mistake? 

We all know that in that car after any of those things, you just want your daughter to GET IT, figure it out, learn from it, and ultimately play to potential you know she is capable of. 

Butttttttt... that conversation can get a little complicated, messy, angry, upsetting, and just down right emotional. 

So, let me help you out! I've got you, {{first_name}}!!! 

The next conversation you have with your daughter after one of these scenarios above, this is what you're going to do... 

1. Set boundaries ‍
Boundaries are just a way to keep you and your daughter safe when it comes to your emotions. Both of...

{{first_name}}, don't let someone get in the way of what you've worked so hard for! 

Somebody told me no recently and I wanted to just give up. But then, I realized that wasn't the answer. I'm better than that. I'm more determined than that. I've worked too hard to just stop. I don't care if someone tells me no! 

I'm going to keep going no matter who tells me no!  

Have you ever been told no? 
Heard a coach tell you no? 
Didn't make the line up? 
Someone told you that you're not good enough? 
You can't do this? 
You can't do that?

This is the most heart wrenching, gut punching answer from someone because as athletes, we are determined, goal driven, dreamers, and we are going for it!

When someone tells us no, it hurts. We can get frustrated, upset, angry, annoyed, sad, self doubt, fear, and we want to give up.

But! I am telling you this NOW! 

If you don't get played that game...
If you get pulled from a game...
If someone tells you no...
If...

We are talking about loving ourselves!

As athletes, teenagers, adults, as humans, it’s easy to forget to love ourselves.

It’s easy to love on everyone else. Our moms, our dads, our friends, our brothers and sisters (maybe). It’s easy to notice everyone else’s strengths.

It’s hard to tell ourselves what we love about ourselves and what are strengths are.

In the Local Meet Up (our once a month get-together for all the local girls in The Mental Game Mentorship + out of state girls streaming in live), we wrote love letters to ourselves.

Yep… mushy gushy, beautiful love letters to OURSELVES.

This is super easy, fun, powerful activity to do to BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE.

So, let’s do it.

It’s really easy and simple.

Think about if you wrote a nice, appreciative, supportive letter to a friend, family member, or loved one.

Now, put you in it instead.

I had the girls in our Local Meet Up all write their own love letters. Then, we all shared our...

I talk a lot about how we can tell ourselves these positive things and be positive, especially in those really hard moments when we just want to tell ourselves crappy things.

In my program, I am challenging my girls to practice their positive self talk. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Duh, practice makes perfect right?!

Okay, so positive self talk practice looks like a lot of things though…

1. Opinions Exercise: Where you write down someone else’s negative opinion of you or your own negative opinion of yourself, CROSS THAT CRAP OUT, then rewrite your own powerful, positive opinion that actually matters because remember, you opinion matters the most!

2. Affirmations: These are STRONG, CONFIDENT, POWERFUL “I am ___________” statements.

My own example:

• I am a strong, beautiful, competitive crossfit athlete.
• I am a intellectual, smart, resilient entrepreneur that owns her OWN business empowering girl athletes to build self confidence and rock it out there in...

You are what you say you are.

Kind of like you are what you eat. I tell my girls, “If you eat doughnuts for breakfast lunch, and dinner, you’ll probably look like a fluffy doughnut someday.”

So, if you tell yourself crappy, negative, horrible things, you’ll probably show up in life, perform, and compete like those things you just told yourself.

I used to tell myself...
I’d never be a great hitter.
I’d never get awards or honors.
I’d never be the starting catcher.
I suck at writing papers.
I am a bad test taker.
There was more... meaner, nastier, crappier thoughts.

I told myself these stories about how I was just a below average hitter and I only make the lineup because I can catch.

Bull! Excuse my language.

I made the lineup because I worked my off!!

It’s time to put a to these stories we make up or that other people have made up for you. WE get to create what stories we want for US!

What’s your story?!

Tell me what kind of story...

Visualize your dreams + goals and they will come to life!

This month in The Mental Game Mentorship we’ve been improving our consistency with visualizing and becoming expert visualizers!

What does it even mean to be an expert visualizer? Well, just like practicing your physical skills at practice and lessons, we have to practice our mental skills!!

Visualization tip!!!
Visualize yourself as the confident, strong, successful girl you want to become!
Visualize yourself in that college uniform playing at the next level!
Visualize yourself getting the job of your dreams!
Visualize your name with the batting average or record that you want!

Most importantly... consistently visualize and WORK HARD!!!

Failure sucks right?!

But, guess what? You are going to fail. Everyone fails. It's not all rainbows and butterflies.

It is what you do in times of challenges and failures that defines you as an athlete.

One of the girls in my program who has been working day in and day out on her mindset and confidence had an AMAZING weekend hitting. Doubles, singles, hard hits, all the feels!! So what do you work on?

• Visualization: See yourself getting those hits, those moments of success, what you've been working so hard for!
• Positive Self Talk: I'm not just talking, "You are so good, Paige!" I'm talking productive positive self talk. Look at what you did well or not so well, learn, and GROW from your failure!
• Intentional Breathing: Taking deep breaths in pressure situations, times of failure so you can slow down, refresh, and move forward FAST!

Here's the straight up truth though... You have to practice these mental training tools diligently! It has to be routine for you, just like when you...