Raising Elite Competitors

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

How one teen turns comparison into fuel instead of letting it crush her confidence. Learn more about EMG 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 
00:45 Meet Zoe Roberts 
02:07 Learning to Manage Emotions 
04:40 The Snapback Routine 
06:34 Pre-Game Routine and Support System 
07:14 Turning Comparison into Inspiration 
08:32 Zoe's Win and Becoming a Role Model 
09:42 Final Tips and Wrap-Up
 
🎤 This week Coach Saylor sits down with Zoey Roberts, our EMG June Athlete of the Month, a rising high school freshman who plays basketball, volleyball, and track.
Zoey used to cry after almost every mistake in a game. Now she resets in seconds and cheers louder for her teammates than she ever argued with a ref.
She walks us through the reframe that turned watching stronger athletes from intimidating into motivating, and the habit that changed her game.
What You'll Learn:
✅ Why comparing herself to a stronger athlete now fuels Zoey instead of scaring her
✅ The 2-second signal Zoey uses to snap back after a mistake, and why it works better than "shake it off"
✅ How the five-sense grounding countdown calms her down before a big moment
✅ What she does on the bench when she gets subbed out, and why it matters for the whole team
✅ Her honest advice for a mom whose daughter has no idea what mental training even is
💬 Moms — comment below: What does your daughter's first 10 minutes after a mistake usually look like?
 
P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
👉Psychological skills training produced a notably larger reduction in anxiety for adolescent athletes than for the broader athlete population studied (Frontiers in Psychology, 2025)
👉Self-compassion predicted a stronger performance rebound the day after a rough outing, in a study of college athletes (Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2022)
👉Peer support from teammates directly reduces mental fatigue and increases engagement in adolescent athletes (Scientific Reports, 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 #mentaltraining #girlathletes #elitementalgame #confidencecoaching

Your daughter's recruiting profile makes her more searchable than she realizes. 

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📌 Resources & Tools:
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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!

Guest Resources:
Name: Fareedah Shaheed
Title: Internet Safety Expert
Email: cyberfareedah@gmail.com
@social handle: @CyberFareedah
Free Protect Kids Online Resource Library: https://sekuva.mykajabi.com/get-your-internet-safety-resource-library

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⏰ Key Timestamps:
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00:00 Introduction: Why Digital Safety Matters
01:35 Meet Farida Shaheed
02:41 Farida's Childhood and Online Grooming Story
05:13 The Turning Point With Her Mom
08:34 What Grooming Really Looks Like
10:58 Guidelines for Young Athletes Online
13:33 Doom Scrolling vs. Dream Scrolling
17:13 The SAFE Method
21:01 New AI-Powered Threats
21:57 Where to Find Farida

👋🏼 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.

🎙 Today's guest is Fareedah Shaheed, aka CyberFareedah, a Forbes 30 Under 30 internet safety expert who was groomed online as a teenager and built the SAFE Method to help other families avoid what she went through.

Fareedah walks through exactly what a stranger can find when they search your athlete's name, and why recruiting makes her more visible online than most kids her age. She also shares the exact conversation her mom had with her that changed everything, and why reacting with fear almost always backfires.

She breaks down her SAFE Method (Safe spaces, Accountability, Fun, Empathy) and gives three specific moves you can make tonight to protect what's public without hiding her talent or pulling her offline.

What You'll Learn:
✅ What actually shows up when someone searches your athlete's name
✅ Three specific ways to protect her online without going private or pulling her offline
✅ Why a fearful reaction pushes your daughter to hide more, not less
✅ The SAFE Method: Safe spaces, Accountability, Fun, Empathy
✅ The exact script for introducing phone check-ins without triggering secrecy

💬 Moms — comment below: Have you ever searched your own daughter's name to see what actually shows up?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

More than 300 million children a year are victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse worldwide. (Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, University of Edinburgh, 2024)

Online enticement reports to NCMEC's CyberTipline rose to more than 546,000 in 2024, a 192% increase over 2023. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2025)

1 in 17 minors report having personally experienced sextortion. (Thorn & NCMEC, 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 #onlinesafety #digitalparenting #raisingelitecompetitors #parentingteens