Raising Elite Competitors

The science behind why you freeze under pressure. Athletes: take this quiz to find out your competitor style → https://elitecompetitor.com/athlete

📌 Resources & Tools:

FREE for sports parents:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Intro: Freezing Under Pressure
00:55 Mackenzie's Story
02:35 What Happens in Your Brain
04:10 Tip 1: Name It to Tame It
05:11 Tip 2: Anchor and Go
06:29 Tip 3: Bridge Practice and Games
08:41 Recap and Outro

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

🎙 This episode is hosted by Coach Saylor, our mental performance coach for competitive girl athletes inside the Elite Competitor Academy.

In this episode, Coach Saylor breaks down why athletes who look sharp in practice can suddenly freeze the moment a real competition is on the line. She shares the science behind it, plus three tools you can start using with your daughter today.

Coach Saylor also shares a real message from one of our Elite Competitor Academy athletes who used these exact tools to compete like she practices and post some of her best results yet.

What You'll Learn:
Why skills that feel automatic in practice can break down the moment pressure shows up
The "name it to tame it" step that takes the power out of a pressure spiral
A simple pre-play anchor routine (breath, cue word, physical signal) to reset instantly
How to build practice on purpose so game pressure stops feeling foreign
Why her past training is the strongest fuel for her present confidence

💬 Moms — comment below: When does your daughter's practice-brilliance disappear the most? Big tournaments, playoffs, or when a college coach is watching?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:-
77% of athletes experience choking under pressure at least once a year, averaging 18.25 times (Mesagno, Hammond & Goodyear, 2024)

A meta-analysis of 800 athletes across 15 sports found pre-performance routines produce moderate-to-large performance gains specifically under pressure (Rupprecht, Tran & Gröpel, 2021)

Competitive performance anxiety in young athletes is rising due to early specialization and year-round training, and it directly interferes with executing trained skills (McDuff, Garvin & Marsalis, 2025)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #mentalperformance #girlathletes #confidencecoach #athletemindset

Two moms share what helped their daughters bounce back after a mistake. 🧠 Learn more here, mom → https://trainhergame.com/mom

📌 Resources & Tools:
FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:39 Meet the Moms and Daughters
02:59 Why They Joined the Academy
03:18 Elyse's Struggle on the Field
04:19 Ella's Individual vs. Team Pressure
04:58 Danielle's Perspective on Building a Foundation
06:21 Overcoming Early Skepticism
09:14 Program Overview and How to Join

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

🎤 Joined by two Elite Competitor Academy families, Michelle and her daughter Elise, and Danyell and her daughter Ella, sharing what changed for them inside the program.

Michelle describes exactly what she saw from the sideline when Elise made a mistake, and the moment that changed how her daughter handled it. Danyell shares why she wanted her daughter to hear these same tools from someone other than her, before the pressure of competitive swimming caught up to them.

What You'll Learn:
✅ What Michelle saw from the sideline when Elise made a mistake, and what changed once she got support
✅ The specific moment Elise decided to trust her skills again mid-game
✅ Why Danyell wanted the message to come from someone other than her, even with a psychology background of her own
✅ The exact question Michelle asked Elise that opened the door to try mental training
✅ Why doubting this will work at first is a normal reaction, not a red flag

💬 Moms, comment below: What's the exact moment you realized your daughter's mental game needed more support than her physical training?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
👉Parents' influence on youth athlete motivation has been found to surpass coaches' in some respects (Frontiers in Psychology, 2023)
👉A qualitative study of coaches, parents, and athletes found a consistent gap in know-how around mental skill development, meaning families are often the ones initiating outside resources (Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2025)
👉A network meta-analysis of 46 randomized controlled trials found psychological interventions meaningfully reduced competitive anxiety in athletes (Sports Medicine – Open, 2026)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #mentalgame #girlathletes #sportsparenting #confidentathletes

14-year-old, Maeryn, a nationally ranked tennis athlete, shares her advice for showing up on bad days. 🎾 Learn more about the Elite Competitor Academy program she uses to keep centered → https://trainhergame.com/mom

📌 Resources & Tools:

FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:28 Intro
01:11 Meet Maeryn
02:41 Recent Tournament Wins & Mental Prep
05:09 Snapback Routine & Breathing Techniques
06:35 The Brain Dump Strategy
08:48 Positive Affirmations
10:25 Overcoming Past Struggles
12:00 Advice & Closing Thoughts

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

🎾 This week's guest is Maeryn, a 14-year-old nationally ranked tennis player and our July Athlete of the Month. She joins Coach Saylor to share her advice for athletes and parents on showing up and competing even on the hard days.

Maeryn walks through her Snapback Routine, box breathing, and the pre-match worry list she hands straight to her parents so she can't carry it onto the court. She also shares the four-line affirmation script she reads during changeovers.

This episode is for the athlete who's had a bad week and the parent trying to figure out what to say to her. Share it with your daughter, then come back and comment below.

What You'll Learn:
✅ How Maeryn shows up and competes even during a rough stretch
✅ The exact Snap Back Routine she uses to reset mid-match in under 20 seconds
✅ Why she writes down every worry before a tournament and hands it to her parents
✅ The four-line third-person affirmation script she reads during changeovers
✅ How she reframes a loss so it doesn't turn into a weeklong spiral

💬 Moms — comment below: What's the first thing you say to your daughter in the car after a tough loss?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
👉Third-person self-talk improves emotion regulation and self-control under pressure by creating psychological distance from the stressor. (Moser et al., Scientific Reports, 2017)
👉A meta-analysis found pre-performance routines meaningfully improve concentration and lower pre-competition anxiety. (Gröpel & Mesagno, International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2021)
👉A brief writing exercise immediately before a high-stakes moment significantly boosted performance, especially for those who are habitually anxious. (Ramirez & Beilock, Science, 2011)
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The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #mentaltraining #girlsintennis #confidencebuilding #athletemindset

She wants to quit and it's probably not burnout. Check our free training for sports parents to help her stay in the game → https://trainhergame.com/mom

📌 Resources & Tools:
FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 The Hook: Is It Burnout?
00:16 The Competitive Dancer's Story
01:26 The Gap Between Success and Feeling
03:57 Burnout vs. Mental Game Problem
06:26 Three Questions to Tell the Difference
07:39 My Own Experience With This
08:44 How to Build the Mental Game Toolkit

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

Your athlete says she wants to quit, and your first instinct might be to call it burnout. 

In this episode, I walk through a true story about a 15 year old competitive dancer who placed top 10 at nationals and still wanted to quit two weeks later, and why that gap between outside success and inside confidence is almost never burnout.

I also share about my own story of walking away from volleyball my senior year and calling it burnout, when it was really unmanaged perfectionism no one taught me how to handle.

🧐 What You'll Learn:
The one gap that separates real burnout from a mental game problem hiding as burnout- Why "get out of your own head" doesn't work, even when it's true
The 3 questions to ask before deciding it's time for a break- What it means when she can't feel her own wins
How comparing herself to teammates, not outcomes, fuels the spiral

💬 Moms — comment below: Has your athlete ever said she wants to quit right after a strong season?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
- About 10% of adolescent athletes ages 13-15 report sport burnout, with slightly higher rates among girls (Saarinen et al., 2024, cited in Journal of Adolescence, 2025)
- Estimates of youth athlete burnout prevalence range from just 1% to 12% depending on the study (Systematic review, 2025)
- Higher perfectionism in athletes is linked to increased burnout, anxiety, and lower self-esteem (Frontiers in Psychology, 2024)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #mentaltraining #youthsports #sportsparenting #confidentathlete

Think your coach hates you? Watch this before you believe it. 

Athletes: take this quiz to find out your competitor style → https://elitecompetitor.com/athlete

📌 Resources & Tools:

FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
|📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:🔹 Take this quiz to find out your competitor style → https://elitecompetitor.com/athlete
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre, a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

If you've ever thought your coach was picking on you or didn't like you, this one's for you. I'm breaking down what's actually happening when a coach keeps correcting you versus when a coach goes quiet.I'm also giving you the exact script to use when you need your coach to give you more feedback or clarity on your role.

What You'll Learn:
✅ How to tell the difference between a coach who's investing in you and a coach who's checked out
✅ Why the thought "my coach doesn't like me" makes practice and games harder than they need to be
✅ The Thought Wheel, how one thought shapes your feelings, actions, and results without you noticing
✅ A real story about a player who thought she was being picked on and was actually being coached
✅ Exact words to use when you need to ask your coach for more feedback or clarity

Athletes — take this quiz to find out your competitor style → https://elitecompetitor.com/athlete

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
⚡️A poor coach relationship was a significant driver of youth athletes leaving their sport, per a 2024 qualitative study of 20 youth athletes (Cogent Social Sciences, 2024)
⚡️Roughly 35% of youth sport participants leave their programs annually, and by age 13, an estimated 70% have left sport altogether (Kinesiology Review, 2024)
⚡️A study of 258 competitive gymnasts found negative self-talk predicted higher competition anxiety and lower performance, while positive self-talk predicted better results (PLOS ONE, 2022)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#raisingelitecompetitors #sportsmom #mentaltraining #girlathletes #confidence