Hey, athletes. I wanna take you back to a moment in my early playing career as a volleyball athlete. I remember a club volleyball tournament when I was in high school, and we made it to the championship game, which was so exciting. But the minute that the whistle blew and we started playing, I made so many mistakes, more mistakes than I ever had in my entire career. I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. I felt like there was so much pressure being in this championship game, and there was so many- so much on the line, so many high stakes. I felt like I was then letting my teammates down. I remember crying after the game and not knowing what to do about it. And honestly, back then, I did not have the understanding of the brain and mindset and what we are capable of in those high-pressure moments that I do now, and I wish that I could go back and help my younger self, but I am here to help you. If you are entering the postseason, maybe you're gonna be playing your rival in competition. Maybe things just feel a little bit bigger. You don't have to stay stuck. You don't have to crumble under that pressure like I once did. And I'm here now as a mental performance coach for girl athletes to help you understand how you can prepare for those big moments, and that they don't have to feel like something bigger. They don't have to have that added pressure, and there are specific ways that you can continue to keep your confidence and believe in yourself even when you are entering those moments. So let's talk about what happens, because you've done it a hundred times before this, right? It is really no different. The, the court size doesn't change. The size of the ball doesn't change. Lineups don't change. The game rules do not change. But something feels different, right? And we start to notice in our body that our heart beats a little bit faster. Maybe your breathing picks up. You get a little bit shaky and sweaty. Maybe you feel out of control of your body. Maybe you're trembling a little bit, right? There's butterflies in your stomach doing flips. All of these things happen, and what tends to happen is we have these nerves, and our nervous system starts acting up, and we don't know what to do about it. So then our performance drops. We actually start to overthink things on the court. We hesitate. We play it safe. And when we are playing in that way, we are not playing our best, and we are going to crumble under that pressure. So really truly, when you get to these bigger games, nothing changes. At the end of the day, you are still going out there and playing the sport that you love. You've done it thousands of times before this moment. You have all of the reps, all of the training that you need to succeed. The moment just feels louder. It just feels bigger, and it doesn't have to. So let's talk about some strategies that you can use to start releasing some of that pressure First thing that you need to know is how we define confidence, and here at The Elite Competitor, we define confidence as self-trust. And so for you to really trust yourself, your brain thrives off of having evidence. So recognizing and remembering all of the work that you've put into your sport, into that moment all of the reps, all of the training is going to be important because as soon as you get into that higher pressure situation your brain wants to doubt. It wants to play it safe. It wants to hold back. And we have to, in that moment, remind ourselves what we are truly capable of. And that is a tough skill to do, but it's also one of the most important skills in sports psychology, is recognizing the past successes that you've had and knowing the strong foundation that you have laid and being able to trust that. Confidence is self-trust. You have to remember those moments. And so a quick way that you can do this, I would recommend journaling. Journaling is a huge, helpful way to prepare for these bigger moments the prompt that I would give you is why can you trust your training? And I want you to list out all of the evidence that you can think of. Maybe the days that you went to sleep a little bit earlier and you were more rested. Maybe the days that you had a great practice and you learned something. Maybe it's a small win that you had recently. Any reason that you can come up with of why you are ready for that big moment is going to fuel your evidence. It's going to fuel your confidence. I would recommend before this big competition, sit down and journal all of the reasons you can come up with as to why you can trust your training out there then to take this to the next level, and we actually have an athlete in our program, the Elite Competitor Academy, that recently messaged us, and she used this exact strategy. She said, "Hey, me and my school team won all around season champs and won the conference championship. We had an undefeated season. One key thing that helped was the highlight reel visualization. I really saw a difference in my playing using it the night before the game." And that's from Brynley. She's one of our volleyball athletes, and we're so proud of her and her team for those accomplishments. That is amazing, and it took a lot of work to get to that point, both physically and, more importantly mentally. So let's talk about what the highlight reel visualization is and how you can do it. The highlight reel visualization is a visualization where you bring to mind and remember all of your best past playing moments, all of those highlight moments that stick out to you. And they could be big things. They could be in competition, in games, in those big situations. It can also be defined in those little moments, maybe just practicing in your backyard, having fun, playing freely. You would come up with about five of those highlight clips from your playing, and then you're gonna close your eyes and you're going to bring those things to mind. You want to make it as specific and vivid and real as you can so that you can take yourself back to that exact moment. What's happening behind the scenes in your brain is that, again, you are building that self-trust. You are building that confidence with this evidence. And your brain remembers, "Oh, if I've done this before in the past, this means that I can do it again and again and again." And so your past successes can fuel your future confidence and your capability and belief in yourself. And how amazing is that, if we can just remember those moments and allow it to fill us up. That is the highlight reel visualization and how you can use it in your next big competition. Remember that confidence is self-trust. We have to make sure that we are getting the evidence, journal the evidence. Come up with all of the reasons that you can trust your skills, that you are ready and prepared for that moment, because it really is no different. You are just going out there, and you are competing in the sport, and you do that every single week, every single day when you show up for practice. It does not have to feel like something different. Then take it to the next level like Brynley did and use that highlight reel visualization to remember all of those highlight clips and be able to fuel your confidence from your past successes All right, athletes. That is what I have for you today for preparing for these bigger competitions that are coming up in your sport. If you are interested in knowing how you can lean into your competitor style, we have a quiz. So learn what your competitor style is. Are you a comeback player? Are you a pressure player? Are you a self-motivated grinder? Find out what you are so that you can continue leaning into your strengths as you enter these big high-pressure moments. Because to succeed and thrive, you have to understand your own strengths and how you can show up best for yourself and for your team. My final reminder to you is to trust your skills, trust your training, and trust yourself. Play like you've done it 100 times before because that is the truth. You have. Go out there, be free, and play like you. All right, athletes. I will see you next time on The Elite Competitor Podcast.