Sports Performance Analyst Drey Ricks states “…it does not matter how hard athletes work if they don’t believe in themselves. When the lights are on and you tense up under pressure all your hard work will go unnoticed without the right mentality and approach. The younger an athlete starts and perfects the positive mentality the more successful they will be in sports. Drey Ricks explains it’s not always the best athlete on the court who performs the best it’s the most comfortable athlete who performs the best.
Drey Ricks, “Athletes who are self-motivated and take part in sports for the pure enjoyment of it. They do not need rewards to participate. To succeed in your sport, it’s important that you love to play or perform. It’s not a good idea to take part in sports because you want to make others happy.”
When you have a real passion for the game, you’ll have more staying power and feel more committed to sports over time. Passion works in your favor, it makes learning fast and fun. Confidence is the single most important mental factor in sports. I define confidence as how strongly you believe in your ability to achieve your goals. Confidence is so important because you may have all of the ability in the world to perform well, but if you don’t believe you have that ability, then you won’t perform up to that ability. For example, a gymnast may be physically and technically capable of executing a back somersault with a full twist on the floor exercise, but he won’t attempt the skill in a meet if doesn’t have the confidence that he can successfully execute the skill.
Too often athletes are their own worst enemy rather than their best ally. When you compete, whose side are you on? Remember that opponents are against you and want to beat you badly. If you’re also against you, you don’t have a chance of performing your best and finding success. Prime confidence is a deep, lasting, and resilient belief in one’s ability. With prime confidence, you are able to stay confident even when you’re not performing well. “Prime confidence keeps you positive, motivated, intense, focused, and emotionally in control when you need to be. You aren’t negative and uncertain in difficult competitions and you’re not overconfident in easy competitions. Prime confidence also encourages you to seek out pressure situations and to view difficult conditions and tough opponents as challenges to pursue. Prime confidence enables you to perform at your highest level consistently.”
Drey Ricks Sports Performance Analyst, Prime confidence is the belief that if you do the right things, you will be successful. Prime confidence demonstrates faith in your ability and your preparation. It should not, however, cause you to expect success; this belief can lead to arrogance and overconfidence. It can also cause you to become too focused on winning rather than on performing your best. This perception can lead to self-imposed pressure and a fear of failure. “A misconception that many athletes have is that confidence is something that is inborn or that if you don’t have it at an early age, you will never have confidence. In reality, confidence is a skill, much like technical skills, that can be learned. Just like with any type of skill, confidence is developed through focus, effort, and repetition.” Drey Ricks.