🔍 Why measure self-confidence?

Self-confidence is a key factor in sports performance.

It influences:

• ✔ Quick and effective decision-making.

• ✔ Pressure management in competition.

• ✔ Commitment and intensity in effort.

• ✔ The ability to bounce back after a mistake.

A confident athlete believes in their abilities and executes their actions without hesitation.

Conversely, a lack of confidence often results in:

• ❌ Minimal risk-taking. (fear of failure).

• ❌ Hesitation in technical actions.

• ❌ Negative internal dialogue (self-sabotage).

📌 Problem: Self-confidence varies depending on the context (training vs competition, known vs unknown opponent, match without stakes vs final).

• 🔹 Some athletes are very confident in training but lose their bearings in competition.

• 🔹 Others lack confidence before a competition but find their rhythm once the match starts.

• 🔹 Some have a fragile confidence, which drops after a failure (e.g., missed penalty, loss of a set, technical error).

✅ Solution: A structured follow-up of self-confidence before and after a competition allows:

• ✔ To identify variations in confidence depending on the type of event.

• ✔ To adjust mental routines to enhance mental stability.

• ✔ To compare the gaps between perceived confidence and actual performance.

📊 Self-confidence scale before/after a competition

📌 Evaluation method: The athlete assigns a score from 1 to 10 to their perceived confidence level before and after a competition.

📌 Key moments for evaluation:

• ✅ Before the competition : To assess the level of mental preparation.

• ✅ After the competition : To analyze whether perceived confidence was realistic.

🎯 Concrete example: A swimmer rates their confidence level before a national championship:

• Training → Confidence 7/10 ✅

• Warm-up → Confidence 6/10 🔸 (slight stress)

• 30 min before the race → Confidence 5/10 ❌ (growing doubt)

• After the race → Confidence 8/10 ✅ (result better than expected)

👉 Moral: The swimmer had underestimated confidence before the competition, but their performance reinforced their mental state. Mental routine work could help stabilize their confidence before the start.

📌 Analysis of the gaps between confidence before and after

📋 Interpret the results:

• 🔸 If confidence BEFORE is high (7+) but performance is disappointing?

  📌 Possible cause: Excessive confidence → The athlete underestimated the difficulties.

  📌 Solution: Refine mental preparation with realistic competition scenarios.

• 🔸 If confidence BEFORE is low (4-) but performance is good?

  📌 Possible cause: Exaggerated lack of confidence → The athlete doubts too much.

  📌 Solution: Work on self-validation and mental routines to secure confidence.

• 🔸 If confidence AFTER is lower than BEFORE?

  📌 Possible cause: Poorly experienced failure, frustration.

  📌 Solution: Analyze the positive aspects of the performance and create a constructive approach for the next competition.

🎯 Concrete example: A judoka rates their confidence 8/10 before a fight, but drops to 4/10 after a loss.

👉 Conclusion: They did not integrate failure as a learning process. Mental resilience work is necessary to strengthen their confidence despite the results.

📌 Tools and techniques to strengthen confidence

📋 If confidence is TOO LOW before the competition (1-4):

• ✅ Visualization of past successes : Remembering moments when one excelled.

• ✅ Positive anchoring : Repeating a key phrase (“I am ready, I have done the work.”).

• ✅ Focus on the process and not on the result : Concentrating on the actions to execute, not on the final outcome.

📋 If confidence is TOO HIGH and leads to overconfidence (9-10):

• ✅ Adversity scenarios : Imagining situations where things do not go as planned.

• ✅ Mental Plan B : Having a strategy in case of difficulty (e.g., if I lose a set, I slow down and breathe).

• ✅ Refocusing routines : Ensuring that confidence is based on concrete evidence and not on an impression.

🎯 Concrete example: An archer who lacks confidence before a shot repeats their previous successes and uses deep breathing to prevent doubt from taking over.

📌 Long-term follow-up: Identify trends

📌 Why regularly track confidence?

• Confidence is not linear, it evolves with experience.

• Identify the situations where confidence systematically decreases (e.g., stress in international competition).

• Observe if mental routines actually improve mental stability.

📊 Example of a personal tracking table:

🎯 Objective: To observe if the strategies implemented stabilize confidence and reduce the gaps between before/after.

Why measuring confidence before and after a competition is essential?

✔ It allows anticipating the moments when the athlete doubts the most.

✔ It helps adjust mental preparation to stabilize confidence.

✔ It provides benchmarks to develop lasting confidence, regardless of results.