About Success Starts Within
Success Starts Within provides sport psychology resources to athletes and performers looking to improve their mental game. Success Starts Within offers 1-1 mental performance coaching and mental training courses to help you build confidence, mental toughness, and all the mental skills you need to elevate your performance. We also provide many free resources, including weekly articles, podcasts, and videos that cover sport psychology topics to help you master the mental game. No matter your sport, skill level, or financial ability, you will find the mental training resources you need here at Success Starts Within.
Mission Statement
Make mental training and sport psychology accessible, affordable, and achieveable to all athletes.
Eli Straw, M.S. - Mental Game Coach
Eli is a mental game coach and the founder of Success Starts Within. He holds a Master’s Degree in psychology with a sport psychology specialization. He has worked one-on-one with athletes from 6 different continents and over ten different countries on building a stronger mental game.
Eli has extensive experience coaching, teaching, and consulting with professional, elite, college, high school, middle school, and youth athletes. Eli also has experience playing baseball at the collegiate and professional levels.
Eli works with athletes of all sports and all levels and is a current member of the AASP.
Founder of Success Starts Within, LLC
Sports Psychology Articles
Stop Hesitating Before Shots in Basketball
When the ball is passed to you, do you immediately shoot it without hesitation? Or is there a moment of doubt? A moment where you
Why You Get Tight With Runners in Scoring Position
How do you normally feel when you’re at the plate with runners on second or third? Are you confident and relaxed? Or are you tight?
How to Deal With an Embarrassing Game
To deal with an embarrassing game, the key is learning how to process it differently. Instead of dwelling on what happened and beating yourself up,
How to Stop Overthinking at the Plate
Quick Summary: How to Stop Overthinking at the Plate
- Overthinking at the plate comes from trying to control the outcome, especially when you feel pressure to get a hit.
- The more you think, the slower your reactions become, which hurts your performance.
- The key shift is moving from outcome-focused thinking to a simple goal: react.
- Use a reset routine between pitches with a breath and a short cue like “be present, trust, react.”
- If your mind won’t quiet down, use a simple mantra like “see ball, react” to manage your thinking.
Why You Get Shaky Before Competition
Quick Summary: Why You Get Shaky Before Games
- Shaking before games happens because your nervous system is responding to a high-pressure situation.
- Your thoughts about the game trigger a stress response, which leads to physical symptoms like shaking and increased heart rate.
- The shakiness itself is not the main problem, but how you respond to it determines your performance.
- Trying to fight or eliminate the feeling often makes it stronger and leads to tight, hesitant play.
- Accepting the feeling and shifting your focus to a simple, controllable objective helps you perform more freely.
3 Signs Fear of Failure Is Hurting Your Performance in Sports
Quick Summary: Signs of Fear of Failure in Sports
- Fear of failure often shows up without you realizing it.
- You play more cautiously in games than you do in practice.
- You constantly think about what could go wrong.
- You focus on avoiding mistakes instead of playing freely.
- You leave games feeling disappointed because you held yourself back.
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