Ali, famously said, “Champions are not made in a gym. Champions are made from a desire, a dream and a vision hidden deep within them.” And judging from his athletic career and life, his fierce never quit attitude was a big reason why he was so successful.

When you have sports confidence, you tend to show enthusiasm even when a loss might be lurking on the horizon. To persevere even when things aren’t going as planned. And, to take responsibility for your success AND failure. Those are the hallmarks of a winner even if the gold medal wasn’t achieved.

Some ways to improve sports confidence:

There are a lot of ways to improve on your confidence as an athlete. Having a strong support group of family, friends, teammates and coaches is important. You can get inspiration and motivation from tracking your goals in a book or journal (a secret that elite athletes seem to do naturally). Or, you can use the techniques of creative visualization, positive self-talk and relaxation anytime you need an internal boost to your sports confidence.

Sports confidence can be a slippery little fish…

Developing confidence isn’t exactly an easy task. For one thing, most athletes have a tendency to focus way too much on outcomes or results. When you’re in a slump or lacking confidence to begin with. This can send you spiraling into a pit of despair.

The only thing you’ll start to see is how everyone else is better than you or how you just don’t measure up.

Which is exactly why working with a Sports Psychologist or sports mental trainer can help keep you focused and on track to achieve your goals. At the very least, you know that you’ll have someone on your side to be a cheerleader in your corner with professional skills.

The pressures of sport can either grind you down or polish you up… it’s completely up to you.

Why is sports mental training important?

Well, think of it this way. Your mind and body operate together like links in a chain. If one link is weak, whether it’s the physical side or the mental, hopes of athletic greatness are dashed.

So you have to possess the mental skills to make your physical abilities come alive. When you have your mind and body working in unison, physically superior competitors can be overcome – because your focus won’t be on them anyway – but on what you can do.

For athletes, the services of a sports psychologist are indispensable in sports mental training. You’ll have the benefits of a professional who knows how to provide motivation according to your personality and performance, both during training and during the games.

Who can benefit from mental training?

It would be easy to say any and everyone – and it’s true. Any and everyone can benefit.

I’ve worked with athletes with horrible attitudes and seen them turn it around in just a few short sessions.

I’ve seen athletes with extremely low levels of confidence and belief transform because they’ve learned a few new concepts that open their eyes to new possibilities.

And, I’ve seen extremely talented and elite athletes find another gear because they’ve started to use their mind more effectively.

Any athlete with the desire to improve physical performance, or overcome injuries and even young athletes and their parents who need to cope with the pressures of competition. Can all benefit.

What exactly will you learn during sports mental training?

You’ll learn how to control your negative emotions and harness you positive feelings, use your imagination to create desired scenarios and apply techniques to cope with the pressures of competition.

Basically, developing a winner’s mindset.

In the intense world of sport, mental training for most is not an option. It’s a necessary part of the process for never-ending improvement.

A simple tool to get stared today is developing your creative visualization skills. It’s a relatively simple process. The only thing you need is a quiet place, clear focus on what you want to improve and the imagination to see yourself doing it.

If you feel like something is missing in your game, look into the benefits of sports mental training.

And yet how many of us actually spend the time to think through our attitudes on and off the playing fields? Probably only 5 percent. Parents, athletes and even coaches get caught up in looking at the physical skills of players and focus all of their energies on developing speed, strength and agility. Which are important! But leaving out the mental component leaves a lot of talent and opportunity on the table.

So the question becomes…Do you really need a Sports Psychologist?

Well, if you feel it’s not your body but your mind that’s setting you back in your quest for sports glory, then you could probably use the help of a Sports Psychologist or mental trainer. Often times just a few short sessions with a Sports Psychologist / Mental Trainer can completely turn-around an athletes performance.

The trend right now at the professional levels is to have a personal Sports Psychologist on call and ready to help out anyone that’s struggling. And, the trend has started to filter down into the amateur ranks.

Long gone are the days of some sort of negative stigma being attached to working with mental trainer. Now it’s seen as a competitive advantage. You can think of a great Sports Psychologist as the person that helps you get out of your own way of success. Helping you to dump negative self-talk and habits and overcome the limiting beliefs a lot of athletes carry around – which destroys confidence.

So, what does a Sports Psychologist do?

Well a good one, and yes there are a lot of bad ones, will assist you in the development of mental techniques that will improve your competitive preparation, focus skills and help you to set and define goals. You’ll be given exercises that will change your thoughts, perceptions, attitudes, expectations, beliefs and emotions, all for the sake of providing the strongest mental foundation possible to support your physical capabilities.

These exercises can include creative visualization where you will be asked to imagine in great detail the things that you want to achieve in your sport. This focused exercise will allow you to tap into the powers of your mind, and create vivid scenarios that will help you to make changes to your game quickly.

You’ll also be assisted by the Sports Psychologist in goal setting, focus control, self-talk as well as management of the pressure, stress and energy that every athlete will have to face if you’re going to win.

Your attitude really can effect your altitude. Just ask Muhammad Ali and his non-stop affirmations of who he is – The Greatest! But there are a right and wrong way to go about using affirmations… which we’ll talk about later.