Exercise Science Sport Psychology Class Presents “Mindset Matters: Empowering Youth Confidence”

On Dec. 3, 2024, the King’s exercise science sport psychology students presented a lecture entitled, “Mindset Matters: Empowering Youth Confidence” to the local community. Participants included youth athletes from Grind Athletics, their parents, and coaches.  

Mindset is one of the most critical components of success for youth athletes, both in sports and in life. A strong, positive mindset fosters resilience, perseverance, and self-confidence, helping athletes navigate their challenges accordingly. By developing a growth mindset, where they learn to embrace effort, failure, and feedback as essential parts of improvement, young athletes build mental toughness that extends well beyond their sport. 

As part of the final for the class, students prepared a presentation on perfectionism, fear of failure, the influence of coaching behavior/styles in building or damaging confidence, parental support in fostering self-confidence in youth athletes, and how body image affects confidence in sports. The event was well attended by many youth athletes who were eager to participate in an active discussion with the students about improving their mindset and their overall performance on and off the field.