Sports Psychology Coaching
The Sports Psychology Coaching Podcast by Eli Straw is a mental training podcast for athletes, competitors, coaches, and performers who want to improve confidence, focus, and performance under pressure. This podcast teaches practical sports psychology strategies to help athletes overcome fear of failure, performance anxiety, overthinking, and loss of confidence after mistakes so they can trust their training and compete freely.
Each episode covers key mental performance topics, including:
• Sports psychology and mental training for athletes
• How to build confidence in sports
• Overcoming performance anxiety and pressure
• Trusting your training and competing without fear
• Focus, composure, and mental toughness in competition
• Letting go of overthinking and perfectionism
• Visualization, mindfulness, and present-moment performance
• How to perform consistently in games, races, and competitions
Hosted by mental performance coach Eli Straw, this podcast provides simple, practical mental game coaching used with athletes from youth to elite levels. Learn how to stop playing scared, compete with freedom, and unlock your true performance.
If you’re an athlete, parent, or coach looking for sports psychology tips, mental toughness training, and performance mindset strategies, this podcast will help you build the mental skills needed to perform at your best when it matters most.
*This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute psychological or medical treatment. I am a mental performance coach, not a licensed psychologist. For clinical concerns, consult a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist.
Sports Psychology Coaching
What Athletes Should Do When Their Confidence Depends on Stats and Results
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Many athletes tie their self-confidence directly to stats, wins, and recent performances. When they play well, they feel confident. When they struggle, their confidence drops — and that drop in confidence makes it even harder to turn things around. This creates a frustrating cycle of slumps, pressure, and underperforming.
In this episode, mental performance coach Eli Straw explains why confidence tied to results is unstable and how this pattern increases fear of mistakes, stress, and timid play. More importantly, he outlines a clear strategy to help you separate your confidence from outcomes and build belief based on controllable process habits instead.
You’ll learn:
- Why confidence that depends on results keeps athletes stuck in slumps
- How fluctuating confidence leads to tight, hesitant performance
- Why athletes become afraid of their own reaction to mistakes
- How to build confidence from preparation, effort, and mindset
- How to redefine success during games in a way that stabilizes performance
- The mindset shift required to let go of outcomes and reclaim control
If you’re tired of feeling confident only when things are going well, this episode will help you build stable, process-based confidence that holds up under pressure — even during bad games.
For athletes who want deeper support, Eli also shares how his 12-week one-on-one mental performance coaching program helps athletes build lasting confidence and mental resilience.
🧠 Mental Performance Coaching for Athletes: If you’re an athlete who struggles with fear, anxiety, overthinking, or confidence in games—or a parent of an athlete going through that—I work 1-on-1 with athletes to help them perform freely and confidently.
You can schedule a free introductory call using the link below, and we’ll talk through what’s going on and whether working together would be a good fit.
Schedule a free introductory call: https://www.successstartswithin.com/get-coaching/
🥇Team Mental Performance Coaching Program: https://www.successstartswithin.com/mental-coaching-for-teams/
📖 Mind Games Book: https://a.co/d/gXZfORN
📖 Athlete Mental Training Book: https://a.co/d/bfojamY
Free Training: Top 5 Mental Mistakes Athletes Make
*This podca...