How to Build Athlete Confidence Athlete confidence and performance share a relationship that researchers have documented consistently, with meta-analyses demonstrating a correlation of r = 0.30 between the two[1]. More striking still, winners score higher on confidence measures than their competitors before events even begin[1]; that is, the psychological edge precedes performance, not merely follows from it. Scientific studies confirm that athletes who believe they will succ

Even professional footballers at the highest level experience nerves before matches, yet they manage them because they have cultivated a dependable confidence in themselves and their abilities. What separates the player who takes a necessary risk to shape a game from the one who holds back is rarely talent alone; it is confidence, and the understanding of where that confidence comes from. Confidence is not something you are born with. It is something you practise and develop,