Chantal Valle: Sharing the key to self confidence

Award-winning university basketball coach ChantalValleoften sees her players lose confidence in themselves. But the five-time national champion coach has a key to regaining that confidence.

With pressures on the court and on campus coaching the University of Windsor Lancerswomen's basketball team,Vallehas spent a lot of time acting as a coach and a counsellor to her student athletes.

In thelatest installment of her ongoing series onCBC'sWindsor Morning, she shares her advice on how people can improve themselves with a simple confidence key.

Transforming yourself

The lack of self-confidence is one of the most negative realities that I have to see my athletes overcome in a season. If we were to spread this to the general population, we would find many of us who struggle with self-confidence on a daily basis.

People often assume they can find confidence in someone or some place. Players often say the coach didn`t have confidence in me. Likewise, you often hear 'my classmates or co-workers don't believe in me.'

The only way to reverse this attitude is to realize confidence is not given or taken by others.

Imagine your confidence is a key you keep around your neck on a string.The only way someoneis going to take your confidence is for them to take the key from your neck. That's not easy to do. Youonly lose your confidence if you let them, if you give it away.

I used to be very nervous before speaking to big crowds. That would terribly affect my self-confidence. But, instead of taking my keys and giving them out to the crowd, I would visualize keeping my keys around my neck.

It made a tremendous difference in my presentation.

When my players now tell me they lost their confidence, I ask them where they left their keys.

In this holiday season: wear your keys to your confidence around your neck.

Valleappears every other Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. on Radio-Canada's Matins sans frontieres 105.5 FM and 1550 AM and at 8:10 a.m. onCBC'sWindsor Morning, 97.5 FM.