New to coaching or stepping into a new program? Avoid these top coaching mistakes that could derail your season. Learn more about building a mentally tough team here → https://coachfreetraining.com 👈

In this episode, I break down the exact mistakes I made early in my coaching career — and how YOU can avoid them to become a more confident, effective leader. Whether you're coaching high school girls teams or just want to build a stronger program from the inside out, these tips will save you time, stress, and burnout. 💥

These aren’t just technical fixes — they’re real stories and game-changing shifts around leadership, culture, and the mental and emotional side of coaching girl athletes. You’ll walk away with tangible, honest insights that most new coaches don’t learn until it’s too late.

Learn how to: 
✔️ Avoid over-coaching & control traps
 ✔️ Implement mental training techniques that actually work
 ✔️ Communicate roles clearly (to reduce playing time drama)
 ✔️ Empower athletes and lead with clarity, not chaos

👋 I’m Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor™, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4x state champion. I created this channel to help coaches like you lead with confidence, build winning cultures, and grow strong female athletes on and off the court. 💪

🕓 Key Moments
00:00 Introduction and Personal Story
00:27 Mistake #1: Over Coaching and Proving Yourself
03:55 Mistake #2: Ignoring the Mental Side of the Game
06:14 Mistake #3: Poor Communication
08:32 Conclusion and Next Steps

💬 Coaches – comment below: Which rookie mistake did you make early in your coaching career?

Want the mental tools your athletes need to thrive? 
🔹 Grab our FREE training for coaches → https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach
🔹 Check out our plug & play elite mental game info → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

I quit volleyball my senior year due to performance anxiety. Years later, I'm a 4-time state champion coach. Grab my coaching tips → https://coachfreetraining.com

This is my story. Not the highlight reel version, the real one. I was a talented high school player who walked away from college offers because I couldn't handle the pressure. I didn't know it then, but what I was experiencing was completely normal performance anxiety that I just had no skills to manage.🧐 

What You'll Learn:

• Why I quit volleyball after my senior year despite college offers
• How I became a walk-on at Western Washington and eventually earned a full-ride scholarship
• The back-to-back devastating losses that forced me to look at myself as a coach
• Why talented athletes often struggle most with pressure and perfectionism
• How I went from not knowing how to manage anxiety to becoming a Mental Performance Coach
• The moment I realized I wasn't training the mental side of the game with my own team 

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

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction and Background
01:03 Early Athletic Journey
02:53 Stepping Away and Returning to Volleyball
04:52 Multi-Sport Experience and Finding Her Fit
07:00 Understanding Performance Anxiety
09:17 Coaching Philosophy and Awareness
11:37 Early Coaching Challenges
13:15 Developing Mental Performance Skills

💬 Coaches - comment below: Have you ever experienced a loss that made you completely rethink how you coach?

📌 Free Tools & Next Steps
🔹 Grab our in-depth FREE training → https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame  

🔔 Subscribe for More → Never miss an episode of Coach Her Game! 

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

• 70% of youth athletes quit sports by age 13, with performance anxiety and pressure cited as leading factors (National Alliance for Youth Sports, 2022)
• Performance anxiety affects up to 60% of competitive athletes, with female athletes experiencing higher rates (Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 2022)
• Athletes who receive process-focused praise show 28% higher resilience scores than those receiving outcome-focused praise (Sports Psychology Research Journal, 2021)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge. 

#mentaltraining #performanceanxiety #coachingstory #athletementalhealth #mentaltoughness

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

🏀 Want to know how Coach Cori Close built UCLA into a national powerhouse?  It wasn’t just talent—it was MENTAL TRAINING. Learn how to train your team’s mindset too → https://coachfreetraining.com 👈

In this episode, we dive into the mental side of the game that separates elite programs like UCLA Women’s Basketball from the rest—and how YOU can bring the same sports psychology techniques to your high school or middle school team. Whether you're coaching 7th graders or state contenders, you’ll walk away with simple, powerful mental training techniques you can implement right away.

👋🏼I’m Coach Bre – a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach + 4x state champion. I help coaches build resilient, confident athletes without the overwhelm.

Here I break down: 
✔️ How Cori Close and UCLA created one of the most mentally tough teams in the country
 ✔️ The game-changing Mind Gym system that transformed Lauren Betts from a transfer struggling with confidence into an All-American leading scorer
 ✔️ The top 3 mental training techniques championship teams use: visualization, self-talk, and failure recovery systems
 ✔️ Why your team can’t reach peak performance without training the mental side of the game
 ✔️ How to build daily mindset habits in your practice—even if you have zero extra time or budget

👀 We’re unpacking the sports psychology coaching strategies behind programs like UCLA, so your athletes can learn to:
• Navigate pressure with poise
• Bounce back from mistakes
• Cultivate peak performance with confidence
• Strengthen team dynamics and communication

🕓 Key Moments
00:00 Introduction: The Real Reason for Losing Games 
00:23 The Importance of Mental Training in Sports 
01:48 UCLA's Mental Training Success Story 
02:53 Mind Gym: The Secret to Mental Toughness 
03:51 Key Mental Training Techniques 
08:25 Implementing Mental Training in Your Team

🧠 Want to help your team recover fast after mistakes? Learn the Snapback Routine and more in our free coach training → https://coachfreetraining.com

👇 COACHES – comment below: What’s one mental skill your team needs to improve most right now?

✨ Bonus links:
• Grab our in-depth free training → https://coachfreetraining.com
• Learn more here → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT1LkVw5Xvg&list=PLYeP0oZHlVGnxJfK4m7ViFejx8r3hnHWL 
• Dive into the full breakdown of recovering from mistakes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ6OmF7gC3I

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Mental toughness isn't something athletes stumble upon. It's something you train every single day → https://coachfreetraining.com

If your athletes check out during hard drills or lack competitive drive, it's not a physical problem. It's a mental one.

As a championship head coach with 14 years of experience, I'm breaking down three drill-based strategies to train mental toughness in your gym. This isn't motivational speeches. This is intentional, daily training that builds focus, competition, and performance under pressure.

What You'll Learn:
Why mental toughness is trained, not stumbled upon
How to optimize pre-practice time to train focus and connection
The 3-2-1 BRAVE daily mindset routine (5-7 minutes that saves you 20-30 minutes of wasted practice)
The competitive cauldron system that trains competitive drive
How to create pressure situations that train athletes to perform when it counts

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

🕓 Key Moments
00:00 Introduction: The Mental Game Problem
00:50 Strategy 1: Optimize Pre-Practice Time
06:06 Strategy 2: Implement Competitive Cauldron System
07:35 Weekly Competition Tracking
09:21 Strategy 3: Create Pressure Situations
11:14 Recap and Final Thoughts

💬 Coaches - comment below: What's one mental skill you wish you could train your athletes to have tomorrow?

Next Steps:📌
🔹 Grab our in-depth FREE training → https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame 

🔔 Subscribe for More → Never miss an episode of Coach Her Game! 

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

• Athletes who practice mental skills show 15-20% improvement in performance consistency under pressure (Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2022)
• Teams that implement structured mental training programs report 40% fewer in-game mental errors (International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2023)
• 85% of high school coaches believe mental training is important, but only 23% feel confident teaching it (National Federation of State High School Associations, 2023)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

😩 If your team struggles to recover from mistakes and stay mentally tough, they might be missing one key thing. Learn the #1 sports psychology tool to build resilience in girl athletes and help them recover from mistakes fast → https://coachfreetraining.com

In this episode, we’re digging into why simply telling athletes “shake it off” doesn’t work—and what to do instead. 

Discover how to train mental toughness in your team using a system that’s simple, fast, and game-changing. Whether you coach volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball, or any other team or individual sport... this tool will help your athletes respond to mistakes like champions and stay in peak performance mode. 🧠💪

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre – a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4x state champion. I’ve been in your shoes—and I’ve seen how one mental skill can transform a team’s confidence under pressure.

Today, we’re breaking down the “Snapback Routine,” why it works, how to teach it, and how to measure growth in the mental game.

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction: The Problem with Normalizing Mistakes
00:55 Why Telling Isn't Teaching
02:05 The Snapback Routine: A System for Recovery
03:26 Customizing the Snapback Routine
06:14 Practicing and Measuring Mental Toughness

💥 What You’ll Learn:
 ✔️ Why “mistakes are okay” isn’t enough
 ✔️ How to teach your team to recover from mistakes in 3 seconds or less
 ✔️ The science behind fight/flight/freeze and how it shows up in games
 ✔️ How to measure mental toughness over the course of a season
 ✔️ Real practice ideas to integrate this today

👇 Coaches – comment below:
 How long does it take your team to bounce back from mistakes?

🔗 Grab our in-depth free training → https://coachfreetraining.com
 📩 Subscribe & never miss a strategy that changes the game for your girls

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

I'm taking you behind the scenes of how I start practice with mental training. Learn more about this system here → https://coachfreetraining.com

Mental training doesn't have to take hours. I've been doing this with my high school volleyball team for six years, and we've won four consecutive state championships.

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

In this video, you're seeing exactly what I do. The whiteboard setup for pre-practice routines, how athletes engage with the daily mindset work, and how I structure it for easy implementation.

🧐What You'll Learn:
✅ Pre-practice setup to get athletes mentally checked in
✅ Our 3-2-1 BRAVE daily mindset routine (takes about 5 minutes)
✅ How I teach one mental training concept per week in just 15 minutes

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction & Mental Training Overview
00:20 Practice Setup & Routine
01:13 Pre-Practice & Whiteboard
02:36 Mindset Routine & Mental Skills
03:16 Notebooks & Next Steps

💬 Coaches - comment below: What's the biggest challenge you face trying to fit mental training into your already packed practice schedule?

📌 Build your team’s mental game confidently:
🔹 Grab our in-depth FREE training → https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame 

🔔 Subscribe for More → Never miss an episode of Coach Her Game! 

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

• Athletes who practice mental skills show 15-20% improvement in performance consistency under pressure (Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2022)
• Teams that implement structured mental training programs report 40% fewer in-game mental errors (International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2023)
• 85% of high school coaches believe mental training is important, but only 23% feel confident teaching it (National Federation of State High School Associations, 2023) 

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

If your athletes struggle to bounce back from mistakes, you're not alone. 😣  Learn how sports psychology + mental training tools can help your team get consistent — fast. Grab our free in depth training here → https://coachfreetraining.com.

If you’re a girls’ sports coach tired of watching your team spiral after one mistake, or wondering “which team is going to show up tonight?” — this video is for you. 

👋🏼I’m Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, 4x state champ, and co-founder of The Elite Competitor — and I’ve coached through this exact challenge.

In this episode, I’ll show you:

✅ What’s really going on in your athletes’ brains after mistakes
✅ Why even your most talented players hesitate under pressure
✅ The exact method I use to help my team bounce back from mistakes — fast
✅ How to implement a Snapback Routine to build mental toughness
✅ Why “shake it off!” isn’t enough — and what to say instead
✅ These tools are rooted in sports psychology, specifically designed for the mental health of girl athletes — and they’re simple enough to plug right into practice this week.

If you want your team to stop shutting down after mistakes, get consistent, and stay mentally strong under pressure, this is where it starts.

✨ Want the exact Snapback Routine to teach your team?
👉 [https://coachfreetraining.com] – Free 45-min training that breaks it all down. No fluff, just tools.

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction: The Two Teams Dilemma
01:01 Understanding the Athlete's Brain
03:39 Recognizing the Warning Signs
05:53 Teaching the Snapback Routine
06:36 Implementing the Snapback Routine
07:56 Conclusion and Next Steps

➡️ Coach - How has your team been playing lately? Drop a comment below and let's chat!

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

You know how the postseason feels different...brighter lights, bigger crowds, higher stakes? Learn how to coach the mental game when it matters most → https://coachfreetraining.com

The postseason doesn’t build character, it exposes it. The lights are brighter, the stakes are higher, and the pressure is real. So how do you help your team perform under pressure without overcomplicating things? In this video, I share the 3 keys high school coaches need to build mental toughness and confidence during the postseason, drawn straight from my own experience leading my teams to four consecutive state championships. 🏆

I’m Coach Bre, a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4× state champion. Over the years, I’ve learned that postseason success comes down to preparation, consistency, and mindset...not magic.

🎯 In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ How to tighten up what got you here
✅ Why your athletes need familiarity when pressure rises
✅ How to anchor into pregame and mental routines like 3-2-1 BRAVE
✅ How naming emotions and reframing nerves fuel performance
✅ How to help athletes normalize pressure and use it to elevate their play
✅ Why creating a postseason mantra can center your team’s mindset

This is your postseason playbook for the mental side of the game. Practical, actionable strategies to help your team stay calm, confident, and connected when everything’s on the line. 💪

🕓 Key Moments
00:00 Introduction: Mental Toughness in Postseason
01:11 Tighten Up What Got You Here
02:43 Anchor Into Routines Over Results
04:12 Normalize Nerves and Reframe Pressure
05:51 Name Your Emotions and Use Your Tools
07:19 Create a Postseason Mantra

Coaches → What’s your team’s postseason mantra this year? Comment below 👇

 📌 Build your team’s mental game confidently:
🔹 Grab our in-depth FREE training → https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame
🔹 Subscribe to our YouTube Channel → Coach Her Game

🔔 Subscribe for More → Never miss an episode of Coach Her Game!

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Tired of watching your team fall apart after a single mistake? 😩 This video is your team mental toughness game-changer. Be sure to also visit 👉🏼 https://coachfreetraining.com to learn the "Snapback Routine" to get your team moving past mistakes in 3 seconds or less!

As a 4-time state champion coach, I've been there. I get the frustration of seeing talent get wasted by a lack of mental resilience. That's why in this video, we're diving deep into:

🏐 The #1 mindset shift your athletes NEED to bounce back from mistakes (it's NOT what you think!)
🧠 Why athletes (especially girl athletes) fear failure and choke under pressure
🔑 The simple, proven method to help your team recover FASTER and play with confidence

Stop just telling them to "get over it." Start teaching them HOW.

⏱ Key Moments
00:00 Introduction: The Frustration of Mistakes
00:36 Building Mental Toughness in Athletes
01:26 Understanding the Fear of Failure
03:12 Strategies for Coaches to Normalize Mistakes
08:55 Conclusion: Training Mental Toughness

🔥 Register for our free training to learn the "Snapback Routine" and get your team moving past mistakes in 3 seconds or less! Go to 👉🏼 https://coachfreetraining.com

📢 Coaches, drop a comment below! What’s your biggest challenge for your team when it comes to mistakes? 👇 Let’s chat!

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Your athletes struggling to stay focused or consistent? This simple player notebook routine changed everything for my team. For more coaching tips, grab our free training → https://coachfreetraining.com

If you’ve ever wished your players took more ownership of their growth, both mentally and physically, this video is your blueprint. Here I breakdown exactly how I use player notebooks and the 3-2-1 BRAVE mindset routine to help my athletes train the mental game daily, build consistency, and prepare for peak performance on and off the court.

I’m Coach Bre, a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4× state champion🏆 

I’ve spent the last 14 years figuring out how to blend culture, leadership, and mental training into my practice structure and this routine has been one of the most powerful tools for building a mentally tough team.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
✨ How to build simple, effective player notebooks that boost focus and accountability 
🧠 The 3-2-1 BRAVE mindset routine your team can do in minutes a day 
📓 How to use vision boards, reflections, and journaling to build confidence 
🏐 Ways to organize sections for mental game, volleyball IQ, and match prep 
🔥 How this routine helps athletes take ownership of their growth

This is the mental training system my team uses every day before practice, the same system that helped us compete with focus, confidence, and grit under pressure. 🙌

🕓 Key Moments
00:00 Introduction to Player Notebooks
00:43 About Coach Bre
01:19 Notebook Structure & Vision Boards
02:12 Volleyball IQ & Match Sections
02:59 Notes Section & Mental Training
03:32 The 3-2-1 BRAVE Daily Routine
05:26 BRAVE Visualization Breakdown
06:21 Practice Structure & Next Steps

👇 Coaches — comment below: What’s one thing you’d add to your team’s player notebooks this season?

📌 Build your team’s mental game confidently:
 🔹 Grab our in-depth FREE training → https://coachfreetraining.com
 🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach
 🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame
 
🔔 Subscribe for More → Never miss an episode of Coach Her Game!

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!