Chapter 3

Question 1

Confidence is ________

Answer 1

• Fragile
• You must handle confidence with care
• Even elite players still struggle with confidence
• Sports are filled with ups and downs that might impact your confidence
• Natural failure is a part of every sport
• Even the best athletes need to repair, rebuild and restore their confidence

Question 2

Why is having a solid sense of self important in a leadership roll?

Answer 2

• Your confidence must come from within
• You must believe in yourself and who you are as a person
• Athletes who lack personal confidence do not make good leaders, if you worry to much about what other people think about you then you might have a hard time
• It is important to care about how others view you but at the same time you cannot let others dictate your every feeling and action
• Athletes who focus more on popularity than principles do not make good leaders, they lack self-assurance and courage effective leadership commands
• Maturity helps with this process but still many adult have not figured out who they are and what they are about

Question 3

Why is it important to want to preform under pressure?

Answer 3

• Confidence in your life is also important
• Whether or not you make every play or get the change to it is important that your teammates know that you have the confidence in yourself to go for it
• Don’t shy away from pressure situations - you will lose your teammates respect
• Confident athletes play to win instead of playing to not lose and take intelligent ricks without letting the fear of failure overwhelm them

Question 4

What are the four sources of confidence?

Answer 4

• Preparation
• Strengths
• Past successes
• Praise

Question 5

Describe preparation:

Answer 5

• One of the biggest and best sources to build your confidence is to remind yourself of the quality and quantity of hard work you’ve done
• Hard work and preparation are the foundation of confidence

Question 6

Describe strengths:

Answer 6

• Take inventory of all the strengths you posses as an athlete:
  
  • What do you do well?
  • What do you have going for you physically?
  • What aspects of your game are your best weapons?
  • What are your mental strengths?
• Do not be arrogant or cocky but do know your strength and be proud of them
• Your strengths are your weapons you do battle with, you must know what you are good at so that you can unleash these strengths on your opponents

Question 7

Describe past successes:

Answer 7

• Reflecting on your past successes is an excellent way to boast your confidence
• If you were able to come through in past situations you have already proven to yourself and others that you have what it takes to be successful
  
  • The ability is there physically you just need to remind yourself of it mentally so that it will surface again when you need it
• Sometimes even losses and unsuccessful attempts can be used as a source to build confidence if you know you played your best game

Question 8

Describe praise:

Answer 8

• You can use the words and actions of others to help you build confidence
• Use these compliments to remind yourself that you do have what it takes to be successful

Question 9

Who should you rely on for confidence?

Answer 9

• Yourself
• Do not put to much stock on other peoples praise, it can help you jump start your confidence from time to time but it should not be used as your primary or sole source of confidence
• Two reasons why:
  
  • Confidence must come from within
  • You might be in an environment where praise is not given very often
• Take most of your confidence from your preparation, strengths, and past successes

Question 10

What is another way to demonstrate your confidence?

Answer 10

• Resilient reaction to failure - optimism
• How you respond to failure
  
  • Do you give up pout and make excuses or do you learn lessons from them, refocus on the next play and correct your mistakes?
• Confident athletes have the attitude of “don’t worry about it - i’ve got the next one”

Question 11

How do successful people view setbacks?

Answer 11

• Temporary
• Localized
• Changeable

Question 12

Describe temporary:

Answer 12

• “This to shall pass”
• No matter how bleak things seem at the moment, sooner or later they will improve
• Successful people view adversity as something that occurs during a limited time period
• By staying patient and persistent things will eventually go your way

Question 13

Describe localized:

Answer 13

• Confident people keep their problems limited to certain aspects of their life
• Keep the adversity you are experiencing in perspective and limited in scope
• Opposite of how chicken little acts

Question 14

Describe changeable:

Answer 14

• Confident people remain optimistic in their days because they know that an adjustment in their approach or mental attitude is enough to make a difference
• Don’t really believe in fate
• They keep trying because they believe that they have the ability to influence and sometimes control their own destiny