Of course, there are other factors that can influence levels of confidence in a child when performing a particular skill. These include; the environment, equipment, mood, warm-up technique, expectations, attitude, and your relationship with them.
Your job as a coach is to build an environment which helps breed and nurture confidence, raising a child’s self-esteem and psychological stability.
Building confident kids
I asked professional stuntman, Richard turkey rcs data Dwyer, for his view on ‘building confident kids’ – a motto he employs in his company, Flair Gymnastics:
“Being a confident person is your God-given right, and without confidence, you will NOT be performing, achieving, living, loving or being your best in life. There are many opinions and definitions of what confidence is, so to keep things simple, when I use the word ‘confidence’ I mean complete and total belief in yourself and in your own powers and abilities.”
Richard goes on to say: “ , as a child you take their word as ‘gospel,’ believing them to be speaking the complete truth. These words can powerfully flatten that inner confidence that you were born with, so we end up having our minds poorly programmed. Sports where goal setting and reinforcement of positive behaviours are rewarded and celebrated breeds a confident self. Correctly trained sports coaches who OWN their minds and love passing on their knowledge to others are trained to use confidence as a tool to help achieve goals. This becomes a positive feedback loop in the brain, leading to more and more confidence and more and more goals being achieved as a result.”