At one point, all athletes have heard their coach tell them to “have fun playing the game.” While this may seem cliche and cheesy, the fact of the matter is that having fun does actually benefit your performance. Sure, as you get older in sports the competition gets tougher–there is more at stake, and your performance dictates how much play time you get or whether you make a team, which often makes athletes lose sight of the fun aspect of sports. Now the resolution isn't to lose focus and be lackadaisical, but rather to lessen the stressful factors that may compromise your confidence and your overall performance. In this article, we will discuss how having fun while playing your sport can boost your performance and your confidence.

Psychological and Physiological Benefits

According to studies, when you are enjoying any physical activity chemical hormones known as endorphins are released and directly correlate to feeling good and relieving stress. In the context of sports, endorphins can boost an athlete's confidence and can make you feel at your best physically. In addition, endorphins increase pain tolerance, which prevents nagging injuries and allows an athlete to focus on the game. 

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Instinctual Mentality

There are often situations where athletes avoid failure instead of taking risks to help the team win. Being afraid of failure is a sign of overthinking and caving into stressful situations. When you're in situations with low stakes, like practice, you let your instincts take over and have fun while you're playing. If you applied the same instinctual mentality to a game situation and had fun competing as opposed to focusing on the end results then your performance will improve and your stats will follow suit. 

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For the Love of the Game

At the end of the day, playing sports is rooted in fun and joy. The greatest players are the ones that have a genuine joy playing the sport they do and a contagious energy that impacts the team. There is inevitably going to be struggles and adversity in sports, but it is the players that keep their head up and have fun playing despite those obstacles that rebound the quickest and maintain high confidence in their talents. All in all, it may sound cheesy to have fun playing your sport, but the phrase has legitimate sentiment that just might boost your performance.

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* Originally published on October 6, 2022, by Dylan Tehada