Confidence

Yesterday, I had the luxury of standing in front of the team for the first time.  I love the energy of the first practice.  Everyone is "all in,"  "Nothing is going to come between us and our goals,"  "This season is going to be the best" is pulsing through our veins. 

As a coach or teacher it is our job to keep that confidence going throughout the entire season.  This is easier said than done.  How do we keep our team confident when after the first month, a captain gets mono, after the 2nd month, we lose to a rival school, after the 3rd month a key injury sets the team back, and on and on....  These unplanned events happen to the best of teams, so how do we keep our athletes as confident during the last month of practice as the first?


Expect the Unexpected:  Talk to your team about the reality that we live in a world that is not perfect and as much as we would love to think we are in control, we aren't.  Plan to deal with something that comes up out of  no where and embrace the situation when it happens.  It is no fun dealing with mono, injuries, or a family crisis, however, you should have some reserve energy to deal those unexpected obstacles.

Don't focus on what you don't know:  Too many people in life and in athletics stress and worry about the outcome so much that it takes away from the quality of their life and quality of their training.  We are not good at predicting the future, that is proven on a daily basis by the weather man.  Even the best financial planner cannot predict the stock market.  Be confident in that what you are doing on a daily basis is giving you the best chance to get where you want to be.  If you are prepared and have a plan for the unexpected, you will do great.

Faith:  Have faith in what you do and what you believe.  At Calvin, we get to talk and share our faith for Jesus Christ.  As believers, we know that God is with us, and God has a plan for us.  As my preacher said last Sunday, "He is the ultimate Closer."  Be strong in your faith and you will gain confidence in all that you do.

Phillipians: 1: 1-11 verse 6: Being Confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion, until the day of Christ Jesus.