It is important for athletes to learn how to change negative self talk to more positive self talk because positive self talk enhances performance by keeping athletes focused, confident, relaxed and motivated.

When you are practicing changing your negative self talk there are three simple steps

• Identify (Identify what you are actually saying/thinking)
• Stop & breathe (use a stop cue to stop the negative self talk as soon as you can and take a slow, deep breath)
• Replace (replace the negative self talk with more positive self talk)