Most basketball players I work with maintain high expectations about how they should play on court.  They develop high expectations (and sometimes confidence) from past success.  Many players think having expectations will help them perform well in a game.  If they expect to play well – it should happen, right?  However this is not the case.

High expectations only serve to undermine confidence.  Here’s why.  With expectations come judgments about how a player must perform on court.  Many athletes expect to obtain certain stats such as number of baskets made, rebounds, to have an error-free game, etc.  The problem starts when an athlete does not play up to his own expectations.  Usually, an athlete sets himself up for either success or failure leaving no room for anything in-between.

So you might be thinking what is the difference between confidence and expectations – aren’t they the same?  The answer is no.  Confidence is the strength of belief in your ability to complete a task such as to score on offense.  Confidence will help you play your best on court.  Expectations are judgments you make about your performance based on preconceived ideas.

Why are expectations so harmful to confidence?  If athletes don’t achieve their predetermined expectations, they tend to question their ability that day – either during or after the performance.  Essentially, expectations set athletes up for failure before they even start.

In addition, expectations are usually about results such as obtaining a specific score or achieving a personal statistic such as shots per game.  Athletes often judge their game based on these expectations.  They then focus too much on outcomes, which distracts them from the important focus on the process of execution.

Your primary objective is identify and replace expectations with manageable objectives or process goals – small things you can focus on to help you execute your best.

Below are ways to identify strict expectations:

· Your “goals” focus on outcomes or results only.
· You constantly judge performance based on personal standards.
· You become upset when you do not perform up to own standards.
· You lose confidence when you do not achieve personal standards.
· You expect to attain certain game statistics during performance.
· On the occasion you perform up to personal standards, you feel no reward from this because you were “supposed to” perform that well.

Take the first step now by identifying the expectations that undermine your confidence and thus limit performance.  This step alone will improve your mental game performance.  Then set simple mini-goals that focus on execution and moment-to-moment performance.  Focusing on the process will help you achieve desired results.  Focusing on results or expectations will cause you to feel pressure and judge yourself!

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Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is sports psychology expert and world-renowned mental game coach. For more information on sports psychology, visit, www.peaksports.com.