Episode 3: Confidence.
Confidence isn't random, it's a skill, and when you learn how to build it properly, it transforms your entire game. In this episode, I'll teach you a proven method to develop lasting conference, not just for one game, but across the entire season. If you've ever lost form or dreaded yourself on the pitch, this the fix, and it's more powerful than you think. By the end of this video, you'll understand three things, what sports confidence really is, and why it matters. How world class athletes build their confidence differently, and practical steps to help develop stronger and more reliable confidence.
So what is confidence?
Confidence is the degree of certainty, an athlete has in their ability to succeed. Research shows athletes perform better when they believe they will succeed. It affects their focus, emotional control, and persistence. Confidence isn't just a feeling, it comes from specific sources like preparation, accomplishments, and social support. There also types of confidence: skill execution, tactical understanding, physical readiness, and mental resilience.
Importantly, confidence can be damaged by poor performances, injuries, external pressure, or negative feedback. This is especially so for younger athletes whose sources of confidence are much narrower.
Liam's story: Liam, a 22 year old midfielder playing for a League One club, started the season full of energy and ambition. Early on, he scored two goals and delivered several assists. His manager was praising his creativity and work rate, and Liam felt unstoppable on the ball. He's taking players on, switching play confidently and attempting risky passes that often paid off.However, during an important televised match, Liam made a costly mistake. He played a short back pass that was intercepted and lead to a goal his team lost to one. After the match, Liam was heavily criticised by the fans on social media. He was benched for the next two games. When he returned to the starting lineup, things were different. Liam no longer played with the same freedom. Instead of making ambitious passes or driving forward, he kept it safe, short, sideways passes, avoiding risk. When he received the ball, he hesitated, second guessed himself, and often got caught in possession. His confidence had been shattered. He wasn't playing to win anymore, he was playing not to mess up. Training became harder too. His coaches noticed that Liam, once the most expressive player in sessions, now looked robotic and cautious. His touch was heavier, his decisions slower. It was as if he had regressed to how he played as a teenager, before he had developed his professional instincts. Recognizing the change, the club's performance psychologist worked with Liam, using techniques like visualization, breathing exercises, and setting positive internal narratives like imagining celebrating a good pass rather than fearing a mistake.Slowly, Liam started to shift his mindset from don't mess up to play like I'm about to make an impact. By the final months of the season, he regained some of his confidence, playing quicker, taking on opponents again, and starting to influence matches like he used to.
Common mistakes of confidence: relying too much on external sources of confidence. Many players tie their conference to external factors like approval from coaches or fans, game outcomes, or even social media validation. This approach makes confidence fragile and easy to lose after a mistake or criticism. Letting a single poor performance define your confidence. Many young athletes have a tendency to let one bad performance knock the confidence for the rest of the season. This is especially dangerous when they feel like they need to prove themselves after a mistake.
Comparing yourself to other athletes; This can often cause problems as if you compare yourself to teammates, peers, or the professional players. It can lead to feelings of inadequacy and self doubt. So what can we do about it?
Confidence starts with how you see yourself. Every player has a mental picture of their game. Their football image. Is yours, confident and commanding? or hesitant and unsure? Take two minutes, close your eyes and picture yourself playing. What do you see? Fast, sharp movements or sluggish ones? Completed passes or panicked decisions? Are you a leader or just another name on the team sheet?
Your mind already tells a story. Make it a winning one. Your best ever game. This is a visualization that we're gonna use on your best performance. I want you to replay it like a highlight reel every day. Feel every movement, your body position, hear the sounds, smell the grass. Be present, be there. Do this for one week at the same time each day to rewire your self belief and lock in peak confidence. Your football journal, I want you to write out three games in full detail. I want you to include what you saw, what you felt, what you heard, what you thought. Highlight your best moments, what other people said about it, and what made you proud. These memories are fuel, and we want to use them.
Confidence isn't random. You can train it. Start with how you see yourself. And here's an example of what it might look like: It was a freezing cold night away from home. The pitch was rough, the lights were poor, the crowd was right on top of us.I barely slept the night before, not because I was nervous, more because I was excited. I've been out of the team for a couple of weeks, but I knew tonight was my shot. ‘Didn't care what the conditions were’, I told myself in the mirror that morning. You asked for this, now go and own it. The warm up wasn't anything special, but I was locked in to my own rhythm. No distractions, didn't joke around like I usually do. Kept visualizing exactly how I wanted to play. Stepping into tackles, switching play, staying composed under pressure. It wasn't late before kickoff, but I was focused. Couple of the lads told me later, they could see it in my eyes. Quiet fire. The game started fast and ugly, second balls, long throws, scraps, everywhere. That's where I started to feel alive. Wasn't trying to do anything fancy, just clean, sharp decisions. One touch, two touch, talk, organize, set the tempo. I remember thinking, this is what I was made for nights like this. Midway through the second half, I tracked a run from deep, intercepted the ball and turned out under pressure. In that one moment, I felt everything click. Body, brain, instinct. I opened the game up, and we score two minutes later. It didn't show on the score sheet, but I knew that moment mattered. By the end of the game, I was shattered, but mentally felt sharper than ever. Didn't need to shout, or do anything dramatic. I done my job the right way. I walked off the pitch and one of the staff clapped me on the back and said, ‘that's why we trust you’. That meant everything to me.
So by consistently checking in with your best performance, you have to develop the evidence of who you are as a top performer. You can also leave little reminders of the game in places you see regularly, like your fridge. Something like ‘cup quarterfinal 2-1’.
Ask yourself, what does my football image look and feel like? What are some performances that I always think back on positively? How often do I allow myself to feel good about these performances? Today, we've covered the importance of confidence and how to build it for long term success. Remember, confidence is something you can develop. It doesn't just happen after a win or vanish after a mistake. It's something that's built from Evidence from all the hard work you're doing every week that many others don't do. You're an expert in football, whether you think it or not, you have the evidence of it. So start believing it. So this week's work, when you think about your football image, what do you see, feel and hear? For the next week, I want you to visualize your best performance every day. I also want you to write down your three best performances in as much detail as possible, and really commit to reading them at least once a day. One of the best ways to build up confidence is really feeling those best performances.