This article is dedicated to my favorite teammate, Natalie Ditmarsen, she inspires me so much! And also this is for a few of the best coaches I’ve ever had! I won’t name my coaches, the great ones know who they are!

Some players are not really into it for the seriousness of the game,
but Natalie Ditmarsen is!

Usually these other athletes expect their coach to build their confidence.
Some players, especially girls, (and I’m not picking on anybody!)
build their own confidence by trying to figure out if their coach has confidence in them. This just seems to be how some female athletes work – it’s not good or bad, it just IS!

Like Natalie Ditmarsen, better athletes build their own confidence by knowing their own personal strengths, by remembering their own past successes, and by just always working their hardest.

Nat will tell you how she does it and how you should try to just ‘get it in your head – just ‘be the ball’.

And you can tell just by the way Natalie treats her younger teammates, always trying to help them improve their skills, this is a great athlete!

A player’s confidence really has a lot to do with her own success and the team’s success, and the confidence a coach shows in his/her athletes can definitely make or break the player’s confidence and by then affecting the whole team.

A main goal of a great coach is to build each player’s confidence by working with them to reach their own personal level – to reach their full potential, and by helping them see it when they are reaching it.

Some players who rise and shine above their teammates (like one I know!)
know they have to deal with the coach treating them differently than the other players and that’s ok as long as the players don’t make a big thing of it.

The great coaches I have had always push the top players to be better
and keep pointing out ways for them to improve.

I have so much enjoyed my fun with my favorite teammate and I know no matter where our futures take us in the next year, we will always be great friends!

Natalie – simply the BEST!