Can you guess the # 1 component that helps teen athletes become successful in their sport & their life?

• It’s not their Education

• It’s not how Fast they are, or how Strong they are

• It’s not how Smart they are

Over the last decade, we’ve been studying what makes the best athletes stand out from the rest. What has been very interesting to see is that most athletes are restrained from achieving their performance potential. As we investigated this further, 99% of these athletes don’t even know they are being restrained!

An Adolescent Developmental Shift

You see, as a child develops through adolescence, they shift from dependency to independence – they’re starting to become “their own self.” As they make this shift...they struggle to let go of the opinions of their parents, or the opinions of their coaches, or the opinions of their peers.

Caring about others’ opinions is important for development until it reaches a certain point. At this point, a young athlete must learn that their own opinion is what is going to drive their performance development. You see this problem shows up when the athlete is afraid to make mistakes, or hesitates during play, or struggles to play at their best, or struggles to play with confidence or aggressiveness. Their thoughts & behaviors are still being affected by opinions from the people around them.

"Care about the opinions of others, and you will always be their prisoner."
- Lao Tzu

The athletes who dominate.... who stand-out from the rest, are the ones who play freely... are not influenced by the opinions of others. These great athletes have no fear, they’re not worried about making mistakes, they’re not worried about letting other people down – they express themselves freely.

The Key to a High-Performer

If a player wants to perform at their best, they need the tools to make this shift. Once they have the tools, it’s like a new level is unlocked for them, and you can see their attitude, demeanor, & performances completely change.

• You can see the inspiration, the fire, the drive come back into their life
• You can see their behaviors completely change on the pitch

That beast of a player that you know is in there...starts to emerge! When this clicks, a positive feedback loop takes hold, and players start performing better, and better, and better.

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Lucas Zeiler
MSM Performance Academy
Coach & Co-CEO