Instead of Coaching Athletes to Be Humble, Coach Them to be Stoic

In the world of sports, humility is often seen as a virtue. Athletes are coached to be gracious in defeat and modest in victory. Growing up as an athlete, I was socialized to believe that being humble was a preferred virtue. For most of my life, I viewed humility as an essential character trait for […]

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Why Self-Motivation Won’t Help an Athlete Go from Good to Great

 Self-motivation is the holy grail of success in sports, particularly for young athletes. Nearly all elite athletes have self-motivation. However, for less mature athletes who still rely on external motivation from coaches and parents, self-motivation often comes and goes with the wind. Therefore, as a parent or coach it’s easy to think that self-motivation is […]

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The Process of Coaching an Athlete to Develop Mental Toughness

The process of helping an athlete develop mental toughness is quite simple. There is only one way a coach can develop it. To develop an athlete’s mental toughness, coaches must help the athlete learn how to overcome mentally tough challenges. This requires facing real life pain, ideally positive training pain. Moreover, overcoming real life pain requires […]

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