{"id":11329,"date":"2025-03-13T19:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T23:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/?p=11329"},"modified":"2026-01-29T08:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:24:37","slug":"9-ways-to-build-confidence-in-young-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/9-ways-to-build-confidence-in-young-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Ways to\u00a0Build Confidence\u00a0in Young Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/dealing-with-adversity.jpg\" alt=\"How Young Athletes Can Cope with Adversity\" class=\"wp-image-11075\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/dealing-with-adversity.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/dealing-with-adversity-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_To_Build_Confidence_Early\"><\/span>How To Build Confidence Early <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/9-ways-to-build-confidence-in-young-athletes\/#How_To_Build_Confidence_Early\" >How To Build Confidence Early<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/9-ways-to-build-confidence-in-young-athletes\/#Confidence_Building_Techniques\" >Confidence Building Techniques<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/9-ways-to-build-confidence-in-young-athletes\/#Imagine_how_confident_young_athletes_would_be_if_they\" >Imagine how confident young athletes would be if they:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/9-ways-to-build-confidence-in-young-athletes\/#Related_Kids_Sports_Psychology_Articles\" >Related Kids Sports Psychology Articles:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/9-ways-to-build-confidence-in-young-athletes\/#THE_CONFIDENT_SPORTS_KID_DIGITAL_DOWNLOAD\" >THE CONFIDENT SPORTS KID (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD)<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Some young athletes seem to ooze <strong>confidence<\/strong>. They appear unfazed during championship games, in the final minutes of a contest or when trailing late in a game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why do these athletes possess unwavering <strong>confidence<\/strong>? Is there something in their DNA that generates confidence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Confidence<\/strong> is not genetic. If kids believe <strong>confidence<\/strong> is primarily genetic, they may dismiss the notion that they can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/mental-training-for-young-athletes\/\" title=\"\">build high-level <strong>confidence<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only is that misconception a mistake, but it is also detrimental to kids\u2019 performance and potential. <strong>Confidence<\/strong> isn\u2019t something they\u2019re born with, nor is it an exclusive trait of elite athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, <strong>confidence<\/strong> is a skill that can be developed by anyone willing to put in the work. <strong>Confidence<\/strong> is a mental skill requiring effort, focus and dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Confidence_Building_Techniques\"><\/span>Confidence Building Techniques<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If young athletes want game-changing <strong>confidence<\/strong>, they need to commit to training their mind, putting in the necessary work and holding themselves accountable for developing their <strong>confidence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the 2025 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt was oozing <strong>confidence<\/strong>. Leavitt had already established himself as one of the top young quarterbacks in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his previous six games, Leavitt threw for 16 touchdowns and just one interception. Leavitt believes he is one of the best collegiate quarterbacks and was looking forward to facing Texas to prove himself on the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just an opportunity for me to go prove myself,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope that every player on the field feels that they\u2019re the best. That\u2019s how it should be. You put all this work in and get to this stage. So why would you not believe that yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leavitt wasn\u2019t born with high <strong>confidence<\/strong>; he put in the work, and his work paid dividends. <strong>Confidence<\/strong> is a commitment. <strong>Confidence<\/strong> is built on action. The more sports kids work on confidence, the more it develops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every day, if sports kids work on a <strong>confidence<\/strong>-building strategy, it shows up in their competitive performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Imagine_how_confident_young_athletes_would_be_if_they\"><\/span>Imagine how confident young athletes would be if they:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Strive for excellence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Committed to maximizing their potential.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Looked for different ways to build their talent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improved the weaker areas of their game.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Prioritized mental skills training.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Broke through personal barriers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Broadened their technical skill set.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pushed themselves to higher levels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Took ownership of their practice and competitive performances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Confidence<\/strong> is not reserved for the elite. <strong>Confidence<\/strong> is a mental skill developed by athletes who have the drive to achieve greatness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Confidence<\/strong> empowers kids to challenge themselves, learn from setbacks and consistently push beyond their perceived limits. And when they commit to developing <strong>confidence<\/strong>, it\u2019s game-changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Confidence<\/strong> is a process built step by step, not overnight. Identifying steps and strategies is crucial for building confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kids should set <strong>confidence<\/strong> goals, create goal plans, implement strategies and evaluate their progress to stay on the path to game-changing confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"related-articles-on-hockey-mental-game\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_Kids_Sports_Psychology_Articles\"><\/span>Related Kids Sports Psychology Articles:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kidssportspsychology.com\/how-self-talk-boosts-athletes-confidence\/\"><strong>How&nbsp;Self-Talk Boosts Athletes\u2019 Confidence<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kidssportspsychology.com\/comparisons-impact-on-athletes-confidence\/\"><strong>Comparison\u2019s Impact on Athletes Confidence<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kidssportspsychology.com\/help-young-athletes-build-trust-and-confidence\/\"><strong>Help Young Athletes Build Trust and Confidence<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-f49818fa-7c7a-4ee3-b5ee-66581aad2c71\">*Subscribe to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/sports-psychology-podcast-by-peaksports-com\/id152566009\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>The Sports Psychology Podcast<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;on iTunes<br>*Subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0ynyaalKxbnNmsoeL8gF5X?si=8224669de9b3435b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>The Sports Psychology Podcast<\/strong><\/a> on Spotify<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"THE_CONFIDENT_SPORTS_KID_DIGITAL_DOWNLOAD\"><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.peaksports.com\/products\/the-confident-sports-kid-digital\" title=\"\">THE CONFIDENT SPORTS KID (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD)<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kidssportspsychology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/confident-sports-kid360.jpg\" alt=\"The Confident Sports Kid\" class=\"wp-image-2294\" style=\"width:164px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>The Confident Sports Kid<\/strong>\u201d program is actually&nbsp;<strong>two programs: one<\/strong>&nbsp;that teaches sports parents how to boost their kids\u2019 confidence, and another that teaches young athletes age 8 to 18&nbsp;<strong>how to improve their self talk, avoid negative thinking, overcome expectations that limit confidence<\/strong>, and much more. The program will help kids boost their confidence in sports and life\u2026and enjoy sports more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Confident Sports Kid&nbsp;Audio &amp; Workbook program teaches your athletes how to identify confidence busters, proactively deal with them, manage expectations that undermine confidence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cI just wanted to say thank you for your wonderful programs. My son Kai was one of the fastest 10 and under swimmers in Southern California and after he \u201caged up\u201d to the 11-12 group he really lost confidence swimming against the much faster and bigger boys. He started with the Confident Sports Kids series and really enjoyed each and every lesson. He then started the Composed Kid series and built on the important building blocks that he was using from the first series. I so happy to report that Kai was able to swim to best times in each and every event he swam at the biggest and most important meet of the year in So Cal, the Club Championships. Each race he was more calm, composed, and relaxed. The final race was one that he was ranked last and one of his goals was to try for top 16\u2026he was 49th! He cut over 4 seconds off his time ending up in 17th. He was ecstatic to say the least.\u201d<\/em><strong><br>~DD Bartley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.peaksports.com\/products\/the-confident-sports-kid-digital\">Get Details<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How To Build Confidence Early Some young athletes seem to ooze confidence. They appear unfazed during championship games, in the final minutes of a contest or when trailing late in a game. Why do these athletes possess unwavering confidence? Is there something in their DNA that generates confidence? Confidence is &#8230; <a title=\"9 Ways to\u00a0Build Confidence\u00a0in Young Athletes\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/9-ways-to-build-confidence-in-young-athletes\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about 9 Ways to\u00a0Build Confidence\u00a0in Young Athletes\">Read Sport Psychology Tip<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,517],"class_list":["post-11329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-youth-sports-psychology-blog","tag-confidence","tag-confidence-and-young-athletes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}