Who’s more nervous? You or your daughter right before a game or when she gets that opportunity to shine?

I know all about that parent pacing, sometimes afraid to watch or look because you want her to succeed so bad. Mostly because if she doesn’t nail it, she might fall apart. 

Oy. Sounds stressful! 

Here’s the thing about nerves before a game or performance. Nerves aren’t a bad thing. And the more you can help your daughter know that and understand that, the less impact they will have on her performance out on that field or court.

Nerves just mean you care, that you’re excited, that you’ve worked hard to prepare. That’s it!

The best way to perform even when your athlete is feeling nervous is having a PLAN! You might need one too if your pacing, chewing your nails off, and peaking through the cracks of your fingers watching her!

A plan for nerves! Here’s what that plan should include…

Breathing

Visualizing 

Self...

If your daughter is constantly focusing on… 

the negatives

what she did wrong

how bad that one play was

complaining 

Well, good news, she’s a totally normal competitive athlete!

Take a deep breath mom or dad because there is nothing wrong with her and this is totally something we can work on!

Just like the physical work she’s doing at practice, she can work on focusing on the positive too. But, it’s just that, it takes PRACTICE. And your job is to keep her on track, remind her, guide her (kinda like bumpers at the bowling alley).

It starts with AWARENESS and then CHANGE. 

Step 1: Awareness - Instead of just telling her she’s being negative, guide her towards something positive she can focus on… 

Here’s how!

Step 2: CHANGE

Ask her to think about how far she’s come in the past 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years (whatever time frame you need to use)

Ask her what she did really well at practice or her game

Ask...

There is nothing wrong with being proud of yourself. We tend to think it’s selfish or self-centered or being too “proud” to give ourselves credit. 

But, if your daughter never acknowledges what she is proud of about herself, she is probably constantly having thoughts like this…

“I’m never doing enough.”

“I’ll never be where I want to be.”

“I feel like I’ll never reach my goals/dreams.”

It’s important to get her to think about and acknowledge the things she is proud of about herself. Here’s how to do that!

Ask her questions, or even better yet have her journal on these questions (you can join her too!) : 

Today, I felt proud of myself when…

5 small successes I had today were…

I feel most proud of myself when…

This is just a small piece of the work we are going to be doing in weekly Mindset Lessons this week! This is a perfect opportunity for her to get out...

Does your daughter trust herself? 

In those pressure moments where she has the opportunity to get the hit, make the shot, help her team win…

When all eyes are on her…

To believe she is prepared and ready for game day…

A lot of the girls that I mentor start to lose trust in themselves or doubt themselves because they are so focused on what other people will think if they fail, if they don’t live up to their potential.

One of the #1 struggles that girl athletes are telling me is not wanting to let other people down. Their coaches, teammates, you! 

So, here’s how you can help her trust herself!

#1 - Reminding her over and over again that her opinion of herself is the one that matters the most! 

When I was playing softball growing up, I had coaches telling me I wouldn’t be able to be a great catcher at the Division 1 level. And then, I was the 4 year starting catcher at Northwestern University… Thank goodness, I...

If you read this title and thought… “my daughter needs this so bad.” I’m actually glad because I know I can help you help her with this.

Athletes are typically their own worst enemy. Their biggest critic. This is something that helps them improve and push themselves past limits, but it can also be detrimental to growth too.

It can be hard to find that balance.

Loving ourselves can be weird, awkward, and uncomfortable. It’s not a natural thing to just love on ourselves. But, your daughter needs to learn how to love on herself just like any other skill she learns out on the field or court so she can believe in herself and feel confident. 

So, here’s a message for your daughter (and probably for you too as a parent):

You are already enough. Enough is our birthright. That enough is who we are and who we’ve always been.

What if you really believed that? What if your daughter really believed that?

Well, that’s exactly what we are going...

One of the greatest things I ever did as an athlete was have conversations with my coaches.

I’ll be the first one to tell you these conversations were not always easy! Sometimes they were uncomfortable, scary, and emotional, BUT… I always felt better after having it (even if I cried the entire time lol). 

I believe that if a coach doesn’t know what’s on your mind or what you need, it’s your responsibility to make that known.

Just like in relationships, we aren’t mind readers!

And, you sure as heck don’t want to get into a habit of being “that parent” that is always texting, calling, talking to the coach about your daughter. 

You want to give her the confidence to talk to her coach on her own.

You want to teach her how to be her own advocate.

You want to empower her to get out of her comfort zone and stand up for herself.

Here are 3 steps to help give your daughter the confidence to talk to her coach on her own...

I could debunk this real quick by saying, NOBODY IS PERFECT. Thanks Hannah Montana! 

But, in all seriousness, nobody is perfect. The most successful people are not perfect. 

I Googled “the most successful people in the world” and found this article that shared the most successful people in the world and what they overcame…

Michael Jordan (Basketball GOAT)  - Got cut from his high school basketball team

Walt Disney (Creator of the legendary Disney brand) - Drowned in debt and was forced to file bankruptcy 

Franklin Roosevelt (32nd President) - Was paralyzed from the waist down before running for President of the United States

Albert Einstein (One of the Most Intelligent Humans Ever) - Didn’t speak until he was 4 years old 

Stephen King (Best Selling Author) - 1st novel was rejected 30 times

‍ J.K. Rowling (Author of Harry Potter) - Single, divorced mother living off welfare before Harry Potter was published 

If I never...

I will never forget when I went to a pre-season tournament hosted by ASU Softball and I got to watch multiple college softball teams compete before ever playing collegiate softball myself and noticing the presence of this one player… 

I was watching Washington play and I watched as their 3rd baseman went up to bat. Starting from the on deck circle, I could literally feel the confidence from her based on her presence. I remember thinking, “this girl is for sure getting a hit!” 

I remember thinking, that’s how I want to show up. That’s how I want people to see me. That’s how I want to compete.

Fierce

Powerful

Swagger

Confident

Bad-@$$

Our presence plays a part in our confidence. Our presence plays a part in our results and outcomes. It’s IMPORTANT! 

This week in Mindset Lessons we will be talking about how to be confident through our presence (swagger)!

We will be covering…

What presence, swagger, and confidence...

Hey!

First off, I am SO excited for the new athletes that joined The Confident Athlete, it’s going to be such an incredible experience for them!

Second off, I’ve been LOVING these weekly Mindset Lessons with athletes!

Last week, one of the athletes shared that she has trouble controlling her emotions and even went on to share with me that the way we feel is out of our control. 

This was a red light for me!

I know that our thoughts lead to feelings/emotions.

I also know that I am in control of my thoughts (even though it seems like our thoughts control us sometimes - that’s not true). 

But this athlete, innocently, did not know these things. I mean why should she? She’s just gone on playing and competing, allowing her emotions to be out of her control. 

So, this week in Mindset Lessons we are focusing on how to control your emotions. 

If your daughter struggles to control her emotions…

Cries after failure

Shuts down 

Closes...

Is your daughter the ultimate overthinker?!

I was talking with an athlete in one of  last week’s Mindset Lessons and I asked her to share what she was thinking and feeling before she went to serve…

She listed out about 15 things and I was like oh, girl!!! You are thinking about wayyyyy too many things before you perform!

These thoughts, worries, doubts, fears just flood her mind and she doesn’t know how to let them go…

You’re over in the stands, or let’s face it, pacing back and forth, contemplating covering your eyes like it’s a scary movie because you can tell she’s doing that overthinking thing, looking defeated before anything has even happened yet! 

Good news for you, we will be working on exactly this in our Mindset Lessons THIS WEEK!

I’ll be walking the athletes that show up how to…

Notice triggering thoughts that are making her overthink

How to stop overthinking by KEEPING IT SIMPLE!

Focusing on the...