In the Paint with Coach Green – January 26, 2017

Coach 2Coach Green’s Blog
January 26, 2017

“Playing with Confidence”

A very important and difficult block of the Pyramid of Success to explain/justify is“Confidence”. Many confuse confidence with “cockiness”. A definition of confidence is “a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities”. We constantly remind our young men that their talents are Blessing from God. And it is their responsibility to work as hard as they can to develop those talents to the fullest of their potential. And then to have the confidence do whatever they put their mind too. On the other hand,“cocky” is “being conceited or arrogant, especially in a bold or impudent way”. Every athlete should be confident in her/her abilities. Yet, humble in their mannerisms.

We encourage our players to control what they can control. For example: you can control how hard you work during the season and during the off-season. But you can’t control how tall you are. We can control how hard we work preparing for an upcoming game. And if we put in the hard work, we can enter the game with complete confidence that we will compete to the best of our abilities. As a player puts in the hard work, he or she should begin to develop confidence in their abilities. As players see teammates putting in hard work, they develop confidence in each other. Just like when players see coaches putting in hard work they develop confidence in each other. There is no substitute for working hard and being as prepared as possible. It’s extremely difficult to take a test if you haven’t prepared in advance. On the other hand, one can take a test with confidence if he/she has put in the study preparation ahead of time. There is no stronger bond than an earned belief in yourself, your team and your coaches. As coaches, we cannot graft confidence into our players. But we can encourage our players to play up to their potential with the confidence that they will succeed. No matter the definition of success.

There is nothing more rewarding for a coach than to see a player who has struggled in the past, put in tons of work in the offseason, and then see that hard work payoff. For every athlete that I have had the privilege to coach, who has put in the hard work, their level of self- confidence has sky rocketed. A great quote from Benjamin Franklin “Failing to prepare, is preparing to Fail”!

So work hard at everything you do. And then do it, whatever “it” is, with confidence.

Sincerely,

Coach Green

“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you

made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” Coach John Wooden

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