Building an Athlete's Confidence

There are 4 ways to build a player's confidence.  The 4 are listed and explained in detail below.

1. Talk about the butterflies in the stomach - Explain to your athletes that butterflies in the stomach is the fight or flight response reaction your body is giving you due to the task at hand.  You're body is telling you to evaluate the situation at hand and letting you know that whether you choose to run or fight it is ready to give you everything it has to help you out.  Your body is basically telling you "hey I know there is a challenging situation your are about to face, so I want to let you know that I'm ready to run or stay and fight.  It's your choice."
2. Preparation - When you talk to pro players about what goes through their mind when they are preparing to take the last shot of a game, almost all of them say that they fall back on the 100s of hours they have spent in the gym taking shot after shot in preparation for this moment.  What calms them down is all the training they have done to prepare them for this shot.  Word of advice to kids, practice.
3. Be selfish, focus on yourself and not others - Every game you play should be used as a stepping stone on your path to basketball greatness.  Think of it this way, practices and skill training are the school lectures and homework part of perfecting your game.  Games are the exams you take.  Games give you feedback on your strengths and weakness.  There is nothing more precious than game reps.  Game reps give you experience and feedback.  Since they are so important, each game should be treated as an opportunity to see where you stand.  The games against tough opponents are especially important because they will tell you how you stack up against good competition.  This is the feedback that you should value the most.  This is why these games should be looked at as an opportunity to see where you stand and what you need to work on.  This is why you should embrace these games and be prepared to respect your opponent but at the same time go at them as hard as you can.  You want to see where you stand against good competition when you give max effort.  Max effort is something you won't give when you are scared and not confident.  So be selfish, don't worry about what others think of your game go out there and let the game give you an honest assessment of where you stand.
4. Playing scared hurts your team - Make players realize how much playing scared will hurt the team. If your scared when out on the floor and you don't run to the rim when you have a chance, you don't put pressure on the defense and hurt your team.  When you don't fill in the lanes on a break, you hurt your team.  When you don't flash to the middle of the paint when there is a chance, you hurt your team.  When you play soft because your scared, you hurt your team.  When you pass up an open shot, you hurt your team.  When you pass up a drive against an over aggressive close out, you hurt your team.  When you don't push the ball up the floor when you are more then capable, you hurt your team.  Fear will limit the players ability to function.  Essentially, the player has convinced himself that playing soft is safer than playing his game, which is the furthest from the truth.  If you care for your team and teammates, then do everyone a favor and play your ass off all the time.