Confidence is an integral part of success. Without this trait, it is difficult to triumph on any type of playing field. Luckily, we can learn how to be confident (or more confident). While preparation builds confidence — try winning any competition without working on the physical, technical, and tactical parts of your sport — mental skills also create confidence. In Prime Ski Racing: Triumph of the Racer’s Mind, author Jim Taylor, Ph.D., gives us numerous mental techniques to help us construct confidence. First, “walk the walk". Successful competitors move with confidence: Head held high and chin tilted slightly up, eyes facing forward, shoulders are back and with a spring in their movements. His next piece of advice — “talk the talk” — means making our self-thoughts and spoken words more positive. Dr. Taylor points out that it “takes 12 positive exp...

What’s the secret to athletic success? People attribute their success to many things and it’s a helpful query to keep in mind when pondering greatness on a playing field. Kemba Walker, the University of Connecticut’s superstar point guard who helped win this year’s NCAA Championship, isn’t just a fantastic basketball player. Ask Kemba’s father, Kenya, the secret to his son’s success on the basketball court and he has an unusual answer, writes Aditi Kinkhabwala in a recent Wall Street Journal article: “The dancing.” Kemba danced throughout his childhood, taking modern, jazz, and hip-hop classes as a youngster, and performing with his dance troupe throughout high school. Watch him move on the basketball court, and look for the dancer within. “It shows up in the way Walker contorts his body on reverses, shi...