What is Confidence?

Since this is our first exercise together in the challenge, I’m copying this intro from the Challenge Home Page here – we want to make sure we’re all on the same page to get started!

Confidence in itself is a pretty general term. Depending on the situation, confidence can hold slightly different meanings. We will be focusing on self-confidence in this Challenge. So what is Self-Confidence? It’s your ability to believe in yourself to succeed at an action based on your abilities and qualities, and the skills that you have acquired. It involves:

Thoughts
Feelings
Actions

We know that we can accomplish a task: nothing is stopping us! We know we can do it, and it shows in the way we think, act, and especially the way we feel (confidence).

In this challenge, we will be focusing on self-confidence in roller derby. The challenge is here to help you strengthen and reflect on your abilities, qualities, and skills that you need while competing, even within a specific moment in the game.

How Do You improve confidence?

A key piece of information to keep in mind throughout the challenge, self-confidence is a skill. Therefore, with some work you can change the way you perceive yourself as a roller derby athlete. This will require self-awareness, perseverance, and reflection.

The goal of this challenge is to provide you the tools to help you increase your overall confidence as an athlete. More importantly, it’s to give you an opportunity to strengthen your confidence in pivotal situations (defending on a power jam, jammer in the 1st jam of the game, etc.)

So let’s get started so we can unleash our inner tiger…

Find Your Strengths

We all want to improve our confidence as an athlete, so let’s take the first step on this challenge!

If we want to build on our confidence, it’s important to know what it means to be confident. There are moments in life (inside and outside of roller derby) that we feel unstoppable. We get that “I’ve got this” feeling, and feel that nothing can stop us.

Your mission is to find out what action or activities make you feel strong!

Examples of Confident Actions + Activities:

Holding a power pose
Repeating your mantra
Standing tall
Running
Working out at the gym
Listening to your playlist
Seeing powerful images

Here’s what you’ll do:

1. Make a List of your Confident Actions (Confidence Boosters)

Try to narrow it down to 3 to 5 actions or activities that really make you feel strong and unstoppable

2. Reflect on what it means to be confident for you. For each of these Confident Boosters, reflect on:

What’s happening to your body? Think about your muscles tension, your posture, etc.
What are you feeling? Think about your energy levels and emotions
What are the thoughts that pass through your mind during or after doing the activity or action?

3. Use your Confidence Boosters DAILY

It’s always a good idea to kick off your day on a positive and strong note. Try using a confidence booster in the morning.
Anytime you need a pick me up, try using a confidence booster.
Right before you start practice, use a confidence booster to get yourself in the zone.

I want to see you in your confident state! So if you’re striking a power pose, flexing your muscles, or giving yourself a pep talk in the mirror, I want to see it! Post a photo inside the private Facebook group, or on your own Instagram or other profile…

Tag those powerful photos or videos with #ShowYourStrength. It’s time to unleash the beast within.