Coaching for athletes
Dare to be yourself. Trust your ability. Play your own game.
Being an ambitious athlete is not just about technique, tactics and physical training. The mental side can play just as big a role – both in how you feel and how you perform. What happens when you start to think about what your coach, parents, teammates or other people will think of you and your performance? When the fear of failure takes over, when you doubt yourself or when you no longer dare to play the way you really want to?
You can be one of the best at your age and still hold yourself back. Fears and limiting thoughts that arise in sports can also affect other areas of life.
Develop both as an athlete and as a person
For me, mental training is about much more than results and achievements. First and foremost, it's about feeling good, building a more secure self-esteem and not letting results determine how you see yourself. The goal is for you to dare to take your place, be yourself and develop on your own terms – within your sport and outside of your sport.
When you become less controlled by fear, self-doubt and the expectations of others, you are better able to use what you can and perform at your level. You don't have to become someone else to become a better athlete. You need to learn to trust yourself and dare to be you.
Play for yourself – not to live up to other people's expectations
The goal of my coaching is to help athletes understand themselves better, manage their thoughts and emotions and dare to trust their own abilities more. We work concretely to identify what affects self-confidence, what happens when pressure increases and how you can redirect your focus to what you can actually influence. You get tools to handle mistakes, face setbacks and successes, make your own decisions and dare to implement what you believe in – even when nervousness or doubts arise.
It's not about always feeling confident or never getting nervous. It's about being able to act based on who you want to be and the athlete you want to develop into, even when it feels difficult.
How does it work?
When I work individually with athletes, we adapt the approach to you, your sport and what you want to develop. For example, we can work with longer video calls one to three times a month, combined with shorter calls before or after competitions. For those who want more regular support, we can also have contact every week.
There are several options for finding a plan that works for both you and your athletic career.
My own experience
What I work with today is something I struggled with a lot myself, both during and after my own tennis career. Even as a seven-year-old, I was considered one of the great talents. But the high expectations were something I had a hard time handling. Between the ages of 8 and 16, my Swedish rankings fluctuated greatly. Sometimes I was at the top, while at other times I ended up far down the rankings, outside the top 200.
I had the ability and ambition, but pressure, insecurity and self-doubt made me lose myself. For much of that period, I didn't even find competing particularly enjoyable. A few times a year I could perform really well, but I had a hard time finding the mental stability I needed to get the most out of what I knew I was capable of. At the same time, my three other siblings were among the top three in the country in their age groups and received a lot of affirmation for their achievements. This contributed to me often comparing myself to others and having a hard time finding security within myself.
During my three years at Båstad's elite sports high school, I came into serious contact with mental training. I was given tools to handle pressure, understand my own reactions and become more mentally stable. It changed a lot. I developed into one of the mentally strongest players in the country and established myself firmly among the top ten in Sweden. This led to a full scholarship for college tennis in the USA and later the opportunity to work with many talented athletes at a high level, including my brother André Göransson, who has been ranked among the world's top 20 doubles players on the ATP tour.
Regardless of whether I work with a young athlete who wants to feel better and get more out of their abilities or with an established world professional, we start from the same foundation:
Learning to understand and take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and behaviors – and to make conscious choices that strengthen both self-esteem and self-confidence.
I know how frustrating it can be to feel like you have more to give, but something mentally gets in the way. I also know what a difference it can make to have the right tools. At the same time, it's important to remember why we started playing sports in the first place. How can we maintain the joy, dare to be ourselves, and at the same time continue to develop – both on and off the court?
Do you want to know more?
Get in touch via email or text message and tell me a little about yourself and your sport. We will schedule a free get-to-know-you call where we will talk about your situation and investigate whether we are the right match for your development.
CG Balance Coaching