Preparation=Confidence

     When you get to the moments before your competition begins and know that you have done everything you could to set yourself up to be successful on that day, you will go into that event with a very large amount of confidence. When you feel prepared to face the challenge in front of you, you should feel more confident in your ability to do so. Cheadle says that there is a common misconception that athletes on top of their game are always confident. Confidence isn't something that you are, it is something that you do. (141) Confidence comes from the thousands of hours working on your physical skills and then getting your mental game straight.

      Why is preparation important? There are many different phases of preparation according to Cheadle. She says that," The decisions you make about your preparation are established by what you expect to get out of it. (142)" Preparation doesn't just come right before your event. Once you really define what it is that will help improve your confidence, you can turn it into a specific goal. Confidence can come one point at a time and just focusing on that one point can help you choose to do something that is in your control. Cheadle says," There isn't an athlete in the world that hasn't felt nervous before a performance. No matter what the cause, the result of how anxiety affects you is usually the same. (144)" One of your greatest sources of confidence comes from knowing you have dealt with this situation successfully in the past.

     I have learned that preparing for a game does not mean preparing only the day before or a couple hours before the game, but actually it can be weeks, or even months before. I have been practicing taking more time to prepare before games and it has helped my confidence through the course of my season. I have learned that if you practice in-game situations while you practice, it helps get you prepared for games then leading to more confidence and playing at a higher level.

How do you prepare for things and what does preparing early help you with? Also does preparing early help you personally to be more confident?
Citation: Cheadle, Carrie. On Top Of Your Game. Petaluma: Feed The Athlete, 2013. Print.