Ellissa Coburn
Equinox Staff
Standing at only 5’4”, a basketball star who played at the University of Virginia, spoke to Keene State College Students on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
Dena Evans came to KSC to talk with student-athletes about confidence.
From her personal experience, Evans shared her knowledge of the game and how athletes themselves can learn to think like a champion.
According to Evans, confidence (which was the main focus of her talk) comes from two things. One aspect of confidence is preparation; how prepared you are to play your sport.
“Second place confidence comes from is what you do with your attention all day long,” Evans said.
Evans quoted famous American psychologist William James to help prove her point where confidence comes from. She said, “People tend to become what they think about all day.”
Evans said we can substitute people for athletes and make the quote say athletes become what they think about all day.
She gave a scenario for the athletes to think about. If they were in the gym and shot a basketball 10 times and made nine of them, what would be on their minds.
Most people would be thinking about the one shot they missed.
However this is not what the focus should be.
For athletes such as Dawn Staley and Rick Carlisle, athletes Evans referred to, they have confidence in themselves and it shows by how the carry themselves.
If they go in and shoot 10 times and only make one shot, they are thinking how great of a shot that one was in particular. They are successful athletes because they don’t have “selected amnesia.” Selected amnesia means “we have a choice, what we chose to remember and what we chose to forget,” Evans said.
Evans learned from first-hand experience that confident and successful athletes allow themselves the luxury to forget negative experiences.
Coming out of high school Evans was the best basketball player in the state of Texas.
Going into UVA she had plenty of confidence.
However in her sophomore year things changed; things weren’t feeling right.
She lost confidence in herself quickly and her coaches lost confidence in her too, which was shown by less playing time for Evans.
Evans eventually sat down with a renowned sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella.
Dr. Bob told Evans all she had to do was take the summer and fall to think about how good of an athlete she was.
To be a successful athlete Evans soon figured out what she needed to do.
She soon began a task for herself. After every practice she would have to write down at least 10 things she did well.
At first it was hard for her to even come up with a few things, but after a while things started to click and she was able to create lists of things she did well.
As a sophomore KSC field hockey player, Mary DeMatteo gives credit to Evans for overcoming the period in her life where she lacked confidence.
“If she can overcome it, any athlete can,” DeMatteo said.
“You can be your number one critique, as long as you’re willing to be you’re number one fan,” Evans said.
What this means is that you can be hard on yourself however you must also be able to see past the negative experiences and focus more on positives.
Evans quoted Chauncey Billups when he said, “Wash it off in the shower – you have a bad game, just wash it off in the shower.”
She also mentioned how after every game, Michael Jordan would spend 15 minutes thinking about what he did wrong or what he could do better on.
After 15 minutes, he never thought about it again.
Laura Chandler, a senior on the KSC softball team, said that she was able to relate to Evans as a student and an athlete.
“What she spoke to us about has inspired me to gain the confidence needed to do well in my sport, school, and life,” Chandler said.
Ellissa Coburn can be contacted at ecoburn@ksc.mailcruiser.com