In this edition:
1 SUPER POWER
How to INTRODUCE it in your team
How to DEVELOP it
How to use RELATIONSHIPS to harness it
Something just for you COACH
WHY this matters
What do I do now? It’s a question that can drive us or plague us. The beauty in that conundrum: We get to choose to confidence or cowardice. Doubt and avoidance are fueled by fear. Stop overthinking the decisions you have to make. Lean into who you are, what you’ve done, and your desire to move forward and get busy moving, one step at a time. This message is for everyone. Remove the tag of coach/athlete and replace it with YOUR NAME.
- Coach Castillo
Keep it simple: Do what you say AND Say what you do.
The Opening Thought
Overthinking doesn’t start with weakness.
It usually starts with care.
Coaches overthink because they want to get it right.
Athletes overthink because they don’t want to fail again.
Failure is what we fear. Accept failure for the lessons you’ll learn.
But somewhere along the way, reflection turns into rumination.
Adjustment turns into doubt.
And growth turns into paralysis.
Instead of trusting their preparation, their values, and their instincts, leaders and athletes begin searching for reasons they aren’t succeeding—often everywhere except the place it actually lives: their mindset and beliefs about themselves.
Overthinking is rarely about the play, the drill, or the decision.
It’s about trust.
“Overthinking is the art of creating problems that weren't even there.” – Anonymous.
A systematic review + meta-analysis focusing specifically on pre-event self-efficacy (belief you can execute the task) found a positive relationship between self-efficacy and sports performance = What you believe BEFORE you act, affects the outcome.
The Problem With Overthinking
Overthinking convinces us that:
We must fix everything instead of fixing the one thing
Every mistake is a flaw in who we are, not feedback on what we did
Confidence is something you find later, not something you choose now
For coaches, this shows up as:
Changing systems too often
Over-coaching moments instead of letting players learn
Second-guessing decisions long after the moment has passed
For athletes, it looks like:
Playing not to make mistakes
Hesitating instead of reacting
Losing rhythm, joy, and freedom
Overthinking pulls you out of the present and into a version of the future that hasn’t happened—or a past that can’t be changed.
The Real Root Issue
Most coaches and athletes aren’t struggling because they lack:
Knowledge
Ability
Work ethic
They’re struggling because they’ve lost trust in their foundation.
Your core values.
Your standards.
Your preparation.
When those aren’t clearly defined—or regularly revisited—you begin outsourcing confidence to results.
And results are a terrible place to anchor your identity.
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom.
Elite sport psychology discussions increasingly emphasize that self-doubt is normal, but performance depends on whether athletes can stay present and aligned rather than be controlled by doubt.
Relationships
Overthinking thrives in isolation.
When coaches and athletes stay in their own heads, thoughts grow louder, heavier, and often less true. Perspective shrinks. Fear fills the gaps. Doubt starts narrating the story.
Healthy relationships interrupt that cycle.
A trusted relationship does three powerful things:
1. It Brings Perspective
The right people help you zoom out.
They remind you:
Who you are when you forget
What you’ve already overcome
What actually matters when emotions cloud judgment
A teammate, coach, or mentor, can see what you can’t when you’re too close to the moment.
2. It Grounds You in Reality
Overthinking lives in hypotheticals.
Relationships bring you back to truth.
A simple conversation can replace:
“I’m failing” with “I’m learning”
“I’m behind” with “I’m growing”
“I don’t belong” with “I’m supported”
When someone you trust speaks truth, it quiets the noise.
3. It Restores Trust
Confidence isn’t rebuilt alone.
It’s rebuilt through:
Encouragement
Accountability
Being known, not just evaluated
When athletes feel connected, they play freer.
When coaches feel supported, they lead steadier.
Belonging reduces fear.
Trust reduces hesitation.
“Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds.” – William Wordsworth
A 2024 study analyzing professional performance concluded: positive feedback has a favorable impact on subsequent performance.
Just For You Coach
Ask yourself honestly:
Do I coach from clarity—or from fear of outcomes?
Do I trust the standards I’ve built, or do I abandon them when pressure rises?
Am I teaching athletes how to think… or what to think?
Your athletes don’t need a coach who has all the answers.
They need a coach who models belief, composure, and trust when things go sideways.
When you overthink, they feel it.
When you stay grounded, they follow.
Athletes:
Mistakes are information, not indictments.
The goal is not to avoid failure.
The goal is to respond with alignment.
Alignment looks like:
Trusting your training
Playing with intent, not fear
Letting values guide decisions, not emotions
When you know who you are and how you play, the game slows down—even when it’s fast.
“You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius.
“Thinking will not overcome fear, but action will.” – Unknown.
Why This Matters
Overthinking creates busy minds and passive bodies.
Clarity creates confident action.
Teams that win consistently don’t eliminate mistakes.
They eliminate panic.
They return to:
Their identity
Their habits
Their shared standards
Overthinking fragments trust.
Belief unifies it.
Let me tell you a story: Sudden death overtime, tied game. My team comes to the sideline, dead on their feet…but, we have an overtime period to play. I’d spent the last minute or 2 coming up with a formation and tactic to try and win, had it all drawn up on the white board — then, I saw their faces. They were scared to death. I’d overthought myself out of leading them. I showed them the board, eyes widened, I stopped. “You know what, never mind,” and I erased the board. We have 3 minutes before kicking off again. “Here’s what we’re going to do, nothing new, but everything as fierce as we can for 2 minutes. That’s it ladies, all you have to do is execute for 2 minutes and we’ll win the game.” I told them exactly where to play our passes that would give us a chance to create a goal and if we lost it, we could defend our butts off and try to win a corner kick. We had a minute left, “Seniors, get the team together. This could be your last game, but it’s not going to be. Remind everyone who we are.” And they did. At the 1 minute 30 second mark we won a corner, it was cleared. At the 1 minute 50 second mark, we got another corner, it was kicked out for a third corner. At the 2 minute mark one of our players dove in front of a kick that would have cleared the ball, blocked it, won it, flicked it back to our leading goal scorer who buried it to win the game, 2 minutes and 8 seconds into the period. We were reminded of who we are, what we’ve done, what we can do, and then we threw ourselves into it as doggedly as we could, together. Get moving.
Do you know a coach or friend who’d enjoy this newsletter? Pass it along! Send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll send you a highly effective teammate connection assessment tool!
Coach Castillo’s Challenge of The Week: Simplify. Clarify. Commit. Choose one value to anchor your decisions this week. Choose one habit to execute with all your heart. Choose one moment each day to trust yourself instead of doubting. You don’t need to become someone else to succeed. You need to return to who you are — on purpose. Trust your values, trust your experience, trust your purpose. Answer these questions and reflect:
Where in my leadership or performance am I overthinking instead of trusting?
What core value or standard do I need to return to right now?
Am I seeking explanations—or taking ownership?
What would confident action look like today, even if the outcome isn’t perfect?
Lead, Live, Play Beautiful
Have A Blessed Week,
