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You are here: Home / Recent Blog Posts / How Superstitions Can Hurt Athletes’ Confidence

How Superstitions Can Hurt Athletes’ Confidence

February 18, 2016 By Patrick Cohn Leave a Comment

Youth Sports Psychology

How Do Superstitions Hurt Performance?

You’ve heard kids say things like, “I need to wear my blue striped boxers under my uniform at the game today in order to do well; that’s what I wore last time we won.”

Or, “I have to eat chocolate chip pancakes before my game today; that’s what I ate last time I was the top scorer.”

Most kids harbor these kinds of ideas. But truth is, such ideas are irrational superstitions—and they often undermine kids’ performance and confidence.

When kids harbor goofy or irrational beliefs, they assume that something that happened once will happen over and over.

But what happens when they wear their blue-striped boxers over and over, and keep losing? Kids lose confidence.

You can boost young athletes’ confidence by helping them identify such beliefs, and explain that these thoughts often work against sports kids—not for them.

What’s more, don’t feed such superstitions by suggesting that they wear their blue-striped boxers every game!

After you’ve helped kids identify such beliefs, ask them to replace these superstitions with positive routines.

Instead of kids’ relying on superstitions, suggest that, before a game, kids remind themselves of their talents in sports, focus on the process, and let go of expectations.

Pregame routines are based on science, superstitions are based on luck.

Want to learn more about how kids hurt their confidence with negative beliefs and other confidence busters?

We’ve got a tried-and-true program for you called “The Confident Sports Kid: A 7-Day Plan for Building Self-Confidence in Young Athletes.”

It’s really two programs in one—a CD and manual for you, and a CD and workbook for your young athletes. You can check it out here:

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~DD Bartley


Help Young Athletes Boost Confidence in Sports!

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Do your young athletes:

  • Criticize themselves often after making mistakes?
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Filed Under: Recent Blog Posts Tagged With: Confidence Busters, Superstitions in Sports, youth sports psychology

Top Peaksports Resources To Improve Your Athletes' Mental Game!

    • The Confident Sports Kid Series - Help young athletes improve confidence, focus, and composure quickly.
    • "The Ultimate Sports Parent" - Boost athletes’ confidence, happiness, and success in sports for sports parents!
    • Kids Sports Psychology Network - Discover proven mental strategies to boost sports kids' confidence & success.
    • One-On-One Mental Game Coaching - The quickest way to improve your athlete's mental game. Work one-on-one with Dr. Cohn himself via phone, Skype, FaceTime, or in person from anywhere in the world. For young athletes 12 and older.

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The Confident Sports Kid CDs

  • The Confident Sports Kid CD
  • The Composed Sports Kid CD
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  • The Confident Athlete CDs (age 13 and up)

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