Simone Biles’ Confidence With Sports Psychologist
Simone Biles ranks as the most decorated American gymnast in U.S. history with a combined total of nineteen Olympic and World Championship medals.
Biles has an impressive resume including gold medals in the individual all-around, vault and floor events at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Biles also won the bronze medal for the balance beam in Rio, as well as helping the U.S. squad to win the gold in the Women’s Team All-Around.
Biles competes with unshakeable confidence, poise and enthusiasm for performing.
But Biles was not always a pillar of confidence.
In 2013, Biles’ father contacted sport psychologist Robert Andrews to help his talented but struggling gymnast. Biles battled low confidence and nervousness in her early competitive years.
It is hard to believe that an athlete as dominant as Biles needed help with confidence, right?
But Confidence isn’t Something you are Born With, it is Something you Develop
It is Biles’ attention to the development of confidence and other essential mental skills that has contributed to her great success in the world of gymnastics.
Too often, when an athlete struggles during competition, they try even harder to nail their routine. This response only serves to amp up your anxiety riddling your routine with bobbles, missteps, loss of balance and hops on landings.
You can see why it is difficult to grow confidence when you perform with high levels of anxiety.
Andrews worked with Biles to lighten up, put less pressure on herself and enjoy the moment.
ANDREWS: “Sometimes when great athletes struggle, they try even harder, which creates more struggle. They’re not trusting the talent they worked so hard to develop, and that creates more stress and frustration. She was a snowball rolling downhill. I had to convince her to take her foot off the gas, and enjoy the game again. She was so stoic at meets. It didn’t look like she was having fun. Once she began interjecting that Simone smile into her floor routine, the fans and judges started smiling, too.”
It is evident by Biles’ infectious smile that she enjoys competing, not just to win gold medals but for the love of the sport and the daily challenges to find new ways to improve her performance.
The reason elite athletes get to the greatest heights in their sport is due to their willingness to admit there are areas in their mental game that require attention.
Many athletes ignore their mental game because they erroneously believe that they will be perceived as “mentally weak” to ask for help when, in reality, it is the strong athlete that can identify areas that need improvement.
The reason Biles is a champion is her commitment to physical, technical and mental excellence.
Are you ready to commit to mental excellence and develop the mental skills of champions?
Tips for Committing to Mental Excellence:
Grade yourself (A through F) on the following mental skills:
–Confidence
–Managing Anxiety
–Ability to focus during competition
–Ability to re-focus after a mistake
–Ability to manage pressure
Now imagine how your performance would drastically improve if you were to improve just one of these mental areas.
Take control of your mental toughness today and commit to excellence.
Learn all of my secrets to improving your gymnastics mental toughness here!
Related Articles:
- Focus on Excellence Instead of Perfection
- How to Use Visualization to Improve Consistency
- Improving Your Weaknesses in Gymnastics
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Improve Your Consistency With Sports Psychology for Gymnasts
Sports psychology for gymnastics helps serious gymnasts like you to uncover the beliefs and attitudes that keep you from performing to your potential. You’ll learn mental game strategies to overcome performance plateaus, lack of consistency, and perform at your peak more often.
You can get expert mental coaching with us from anywhere. Meet with Dr. Cohn via Skype, phone, FaceTime, or GoTo Meeting. With today’s video technology, we are able to connect with athletes and coaches all over the globe.
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