[Athlete Tip] How to Stand Out to Coaches This Summer

Trying to make varsity next season? Want coaches to actually notice you this summer?

In this episode, I’m breaking down what high-performing athletes are really doing in the off-season to level up, based on what I’ve seen work as a 4x state championship coach. And no, it’s not just about showing up to practice. Hint: it’s more than just showing up to practice.

We’re breaking down 4 simple but powerful ways you can stand out this summer (without burning out).

Plus, a quick story about a softball player who gained confidence, leveled up her game, and got noticed, all from doing one thing differently.

Here’s what you’ll get:

💯 Why showing up consistently is more powerful than being the best
💬 What real leadership looks like (even if you’re quiet)
🧠 How to stop spiraling after a mistake and stay focused
🥗 Why eating and sleeping well is your responsibility—not your mom’s
📝 A fun bonus quiz to figure out your athlete style

This episode is your off-season game plan. Let’s get to work. 👊

Take the Competitor Quiz: elitecompetitor.com/athlete

Episode Highlights: 

[00:00:00] A fresh start. Summer’s here, and if you’re hoping to make varsity or move up next season, this is your shot. These tips come from a high school volleyball coach who’s led her team to four state titles.

[00:01:27] Quick shoutout. Shoutout to Cindy, a softball player in our program who started mental training and quickly got noticed by coaches. Confidence really changes the game.

[00:02:39] Tip 1: Show up. If you want to stand out, start with consistency. Be at workouts, practices, and camps. Coaches notice who’s all in.

[00:03:38] Tip 2: Lead your way. Leadership isn’t about being loud. It’s about setting the tone—working hard, helping teammates, and showing up with good energy.

[00:05:39] Tip 3: Train your mind. Want to bounce back fast and handle pressure? That starts with mental training: routines, breathwork, and mindset work.

[00:07:41] Tip 4: Fuel like an athlete. Take care of your body with consistent meals, hydration, and good sleep. And if your parents are still waking you up or reminding you to eat… it’s time to step up.

[00:10:23] Quick recap. Be consistent. Lead by example. Train your mindset. Take care of your body.

[00:10:58] Want to go deeper? Take the competitor quiz at elitecompetitor.com/athlete to learn your style and how to train smarter.

[00:11:52] You got this. Use the summer to get better, stand out, and become the athlete you want to be.

Next Steps:

• Join our FREE Training for Sports Moms - How to Strengthen Your Athlete Daughter's Mental Game so She Believes in Herself as Much as You Do
• Visit our podcast website for more great episodes

Thank you in advance for joining us on our mission and leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

Transcript

0:00

Hey, athletes off season is here, and if you're looking to make a higher team next year or to be a starter, summer is your opportunity to stand out to coaches. In this episode, I'm gonna be talking about three to four things that you could be doing this summer to make an impact, to stand out to coaches so that you're doing the things that they are looking for. This. Summer, if I haven't met you, I'm Coach Bree. I am a mental performance coach for girl athletes. I'm also a former college volleyball player. I have been a head volleyball coach for the past 14 years and have won four state championships as a coach. So you also get a little inside look into what I look for In my team, I coach a very high level team, like I said, coming off of four consecutive state championships. So what I'm looking for in players who are trying to make varsity. What I'm looking for this summer, like what are they doing? What are they not doing? All of that. So you get a little behind the scenes look at that. So I'm gonna get into it, but before I do, I wanna give a shout out to an athlete in our community. This athlete is doing our program. The elite mental game. This is our signature mental training program for girl athletes to develop their mental strength and confidence. It really is the program that is like the simplest way to give you a competitive edge. So all athletes are training physically, right? They're doing the things, they're going into practices, they're putting in the works but the athletes that really stand out from others are doing more than that. They're also mentally tough. They know how to come back from mistakes fast. They know how to handle pressure. And so the athletes in our program. Get it. They are all giving themselves the competitive advantage over their teammates and over their opponents. And this athlete, her name is Cindy, she said I had a softball clinic last night. I did really well and the high school coaches invited me to come to the high school softball open gym, and it was pretty awesome. I realized how much I missed softball from last season, and part of the reason I did so well was because of these trainings. She's talking about the elite mental game. I envisioned it and I did it. Thank you so much. And Cindy's not doing like. You know, hours and hours of mental training in our program. She is watching very short videos from me. She's commenting in the portal. I'm coaching her back and she's picking up these skills that allow her to play how she wants to play. They allow her to show up as the athlete she wants to be, and she got noticed. High school coaches were like, Hey, come to the open gym like we are hand selecting you to be here. So congratulations, Sydney. That's pretty awesome. Alright, first thing. That I'm looking for as a coach, and I know other coaches are looking for as well, is to stay consistent. In your training, you likely have summer training, summer workouts, summer camps, summer things show up to them. I don't know how much more I can make that clear. Like you can be doing your own thing on the side and like training physically in other ways, that's great, but show up to the team things. This is not just for you to get stronger physically, but it's also for your coach to familiarize themselves with you. The more that you can build rapport, not just with the coach, but with your other teammates, that you can demonstrate your leadership, the more familiar they are with you. It also shows that you're committed, you're committed to being there. You're gonna do what it takes if you're skipping workouts. And obviously you have vacations and you have other things that you're doing, and that is a different story. You should definitely do those things, but as much as possible, be at the things that your coach schedules, that shows that you're committed to the team and you're committed to the process. Number two, be a leader. Show coaches that you can lead by example. And honestly, one of the easiest ways that you can be a leader is to show up. Like that is the lowest lift thing. No matter what time the workouts are, how inconvenient it is because you're not getting enough sleep. Like go to bed earlier, get the sleep that you need so you can show up and be a leader at these workouts. That you don't have to be the loudest on the team to be a leader. You don't have to be the most popular. You can lead with whatever personality type you have. Being a leader is. Introducing yourself to new players. It is making sure that you come a little bit early, stay a little bit late, ask how you can help set up, take initiative, raise your hand for volunteering. Like all of those are leadership qualities that you don't have to be extroverted to do. If you are extroverted, then lean into that, like be the one who is doing the breaks, who is encouraging people, who's high fiving like. Lead by example, by how hard you work as well. That's the easiest thing you can do as well, is show up and work hard like those two things go a really, really long way. Okay, so number one, show up. Be at the things. If your coach is scheduling workouts or practices. Be there. Okay. Number two, be a leader. Doesn't matter if you're not extroverted or the loudest person. Find ways where you can lead by example, by working hard, by connecting with other players. Don't just stick to your comfort zone, like, you know, get outta your comfort zone. Introduce yourself to other coaches and players and encourage people like that Goes a long way because, I'll say this a few times in this episode. Coaches, yes, look for talent and look for skill, but they can coach that. They can coach it pretty easily. That's the whole point of being a coach. But the things like your work ethic, your leadership, your ability to stay consistent and be dependable to hustle when you're there, are you like running with a sense of urgency? Are you, water breaks? Are you, you're running, if you're coming into practice, are you jogging? Like all of those things like that comes from you. I, as a coach should not have to coach that in you. You need to do that yourself. And so make sure that you are doing. Those things. Okay, number three. All right. Number one was show up. Number two, be a leader. Number three, develop some mental toughness. Okay. I was talking about at the beginning with our program, the elite mental game. So we have a really simple way that you can do that. But when I talk about mental toughness, what I mean is how fast does it take you to get over a mistake? When you make a mistake, are you like spiraling, beating yourself up, saying bad things about yourself, and then like you hesitate and make. More mistakes after? Or do you have a way to bounce back? Everyone in our program, the elite mental game, all the athletes have something called a snapback routine. It's a combination of a breath, a reset word, a reset signal. It takes like two seconds and it allows them to bounce back from mistakes so that they're not spiraling. Coaches do not care that you make mistakes. They care how you respond, and if you don't have a way to respond in a positive way that makes you better, then you're gonna get passed up by athletes who are responding faster. Okay, so that's a really quick way to develop mental toughness is have a way to respond to mistakes fast, have a way to deal with nerves, pressure, because if you get too nervous before games, before practices, you're not gonna play your best. And so you have to have some sort of pregame routine to kind of calm those nerves to kind of get you to where you wanna play. We teach visualization in our program. That was, what Cindy was talking about. She was like, I envisioned it and it happened. So that is like another. Skill that you can develop that actually like piles on top of your physical training to help you be a better athlete. Like just simple, 32nd one minute visualizations of you doing the skill correctly, of you playing how you wanna play and showing up how you wanna show up. So like developing this mental toughness, like pushing through when things get hard, talking to yourself in a productive, positive way instead of beating yourself up when things get hard. Like that's all mental toughness and coaches are looking for that because. Most coaches don't teach these skills. They don't have time or they don't have the expertise to teach it. If your coach does fantastic, but most don't. And so you need to develop that yourself, okay? You need to come in with those mental training and mental toughness skills. If you want more on how to do that more on our program, you can send your parents information, you can send this podcast episode. we have information for them@trainhergame.com. Okay? So you got all of that. All right. That is number three. Developmental toughness coaches are looking for that. Number four, last one. Take care of your body. I know summer is fun and you're like maybe doing things, you're going on vacation. Like I'm not saying you have to eat perfectly. Okay. That's actually the opposite of what I'm saying. But you need to fuel like an athlete and fueling, like an athlete means that you are fueling with enough food and you're eating at consistent times. Okay? So I recommend, and the nutritionist who would come into our program, I also used to teach health for 12 years. So, three meals a day, plus two or three snacks if you are practicing and training. you need to eat all that food. Okay? making sure that you are eating a healthy balance of carbs, protein, fat, that you're hydrating. You've got some electrolytes in there as well, that you're not going to workouts or practices on an empty stomach because you're not gonna play as well. And so. You wanna think about your body like a car, you know, you would not drive your car, without first putting gas into it. And then you would also not drive your car and put like, you know, junky, like dirty, muddy water in it. It's not gonna go anywhere. You have got to put high quality gasoline in your car because your car is, your vehicle, your car, and your body is really the thing that's going to allow you to. Play well and play how you wanna play. Okay? So as long as your body is strong and capable, your mind is strong and capable, you're doing the physical work, like you're going to improve a lot and you're going to stand out. Okay? The other thing about this is if your parent is having to tell you to eat healthy, if your parent is telling you that you have to wake up, they're the ones like being your alarm to wake you up. Here is your wake up call. You are never going to be the athlete that you wanna be. If you are relying on mom and dad to wake you up, to tell you to eat, to tell you like that. You need to be eating, carbs, protein, fat, like all those things. You've got to take some initiative, especially if you're in high school. So high school athletes, if you're listening to this. It is your time to take initiative. Okay. Plan out some meals, ask your parent for help. Like, absolutely. But, you know, mention like, Hey, I wanna plan a little bit more for meals, better snacks, things like that. So that I'm fueling, at a really good timing. I'm fueling with appropriate foods that are going to make me feel good and strong and be able to compete like. This is your opportunity. Get in the kitchen, start prepping some food. Make sure you have stuff on hand so that you're not just like not eating all day or you're just having like, things that are not actually going to fuel you. You know, energy drinks right before you play and just eating nothing but like little candy before you play. You're never gonna be the athlete that you wanna be. Okay? So if they're having to nag you for things, nag you to wake up, nag you to do this and that, do your mental training. Do this. It is time for you to step up and be the athlete that you wanna be and take ownership of this. Okay? So that is my message to you. Four things that you can be doing okay this summer that's gonna get you noticed by coaches. Number one, stay consistent with your training. So show up to the things that they're scheduling. Number two, be a leader, however that looks for you, but be a leader. Reach out, connect, encourage, like get there early, stay a little late. Ask how you can help. All of that is really good. Developmental toughness. Okay. A little mental toughness goes a long way. Develop a snapback routine visualization techniques, set goals this summer, like all of that we do inside the elite mental game. Another quick thing for EMG, the elite mental game is if you want to take our little, I have a little athlete quiz for you. Okay. This is your, what's your competitor style quiz? It's a really cool way to see like. And there's three basically types of athletes that you can show up as, you can be the self-motivated grinder, the comeback player, or the pressure player. And I take you through a little six question quiz and then you get your results at the end and how to optimize that. So go to elite competitor.com/athlete and you can check out that quiz and take it. You'll also learn a little bit about our program as well if you wanna use this summer to really optimize that. So I'll put that in the notes, elite competitor.com/athlete. And the last one is, take care of your body. Okay. Fuel appropriately, make sure you're eating enough, hydrating, like all of that is gonna go a long way, especially over the summer when you're training a lot and you know, it's potentially hot and all of those things. Alright, athletes, I hope this was helpful. Go get after it. Okay. Summer is your chance to give yourself an edge, and stand out to coaches. All right. I'm Coach Bree, and I'll see you in the next athlete Tip episode of the Raising Elite Competitors podcast.