Mental Wellness for Teen Girl Athletes
You can see her talent. You can also see the anxiety, the pressure, and the self-doubt she carries as the bar keeps rising. We help teen girl athletes build steadier confidence, an identity beyond the scoreboard, and the resilience to keep loving their sport.
What You Might Be Seeing
If your daughter has the talent but seems weighed down by the mental side of competing, you’re not imagining it. These are the patterns we help girls work through.
The nerves start days before the game or meet. Stomachaches, trouble sleeping, dread instead of excitement. The pressure builds until competing feels like something to survive rather than enjoy.
One mistake and she spirals. She plays not to lose instead of playing to win, holding back, afraid to take the risks that growth and great performances require.
She talks to herself in a way she’d never talk to a teammate. The self-criticism doesn’t push her forward—it chips away at her confidence and steals the joy out of the sport she loves.
When she plays well, she feels good about herself. When she doesn’t, her whole sense of worth seems to crash. Who she is has become tangled up with how she performs.
Expectations from coaches, teammates, college recruiters, and herself keep climbing. The thing that used to light her up now feels like a weight, and the joy is harder to find.
She measures herself against every other girl in her sport and online, and always comes up short in her own mind. Confidence that should be growing instead keeps slipping away.
What It Looks Like When the Mental Side Catches Up
Steadier Confidence
Confidence that holds up on the hard days, not just after a win—rooted in who she is, not the last result.
Identity Beyond the Scoreboard
She knows she is more than her stats. The result no longer defines her worth, which paradoxically frees her to compete better.
Handling Pressure and Nerves
Tools to settle the pre-competition anxiety and channel the nerves into focus instead of fear.
Bouncing Back From Setbacks
One mistake stops becoming five. She resets faster, learns from setbacks, and keeps her head in the game.
A Healthier Relationship With the Sport
Less all-or-nothing pressure, more balance—so the sport stays something she gets to do, not something she has to survive.
Joy in Competing Again
The reason she fell in love with the sport comes back. Competing feels lighter, and the fun returns.
Two Ways to Get Started
Every session is age-appropriate, supportive, and built around your daughter as a whole person—not just an athlete. Choose the format that fits her best.
Private Sessions
1-on-1 CoachingOne-on-one coaching focused entirely on your daughter—her sport, her pressures, and her goals. A safe, encouraging space to build confidence and work through what’s holding her back at her own pace.
- Personalized to her sport and challenges
- Private, judgment-free, and supportive
- Tools she can use before and during competition
- Steady progress at a comfortable pace
Group Sessions
Small GroupCoaching alongside other girls who get it. There’s real power in realizing she’s not the only one feeling the pressure—girls grow in confidence by learning and supporting each other.
- Connection with peers facing the same pressures
- Shared tools for confidence and resilience
- An encouraging, age-appropriate environment
- A reminder she’s not alone in this
Coaching, not therapy
This is performance and wellness coaching—focused on confidence, mindset, and resilience in sport and life. It is not therapy or clinical mental health treatment. If your daughter is struggling with a clinical mental health issue, a licensed therapist is the right place for that care, and we’re glad to work alongside it. If you’re ever unsure which kind of support she needs, reach out and we’ll help point you in the right direction.
Meet Shawna Huber
Shawna is a mental wellness coach who specializes in helping teen girls and young women build confidence, resilience, and a healthier relationship with the pressure of competing. She coaches the private and group sessions herself, and she understands the unique weight teen girl athletes carry—both in their sport and in life.
Her focus is helping your daughter perform with more freedom and less fear, while protecting her self-worth, her balance, and her joy in the game.
Contact ShawnaLet’s Talk About Your Daughter
If you can see her potential but also see how much she’s carrying, reach out. Tell us a little about her and her sport, and we’ll help you find the right starting point—a private session or a group session.
Whether she competes in an individual sport like gymnastics, tennis, swimming, or track—or a team sport like soccer, basketball, volleyball, or lacrosse—the coaching meets her where she is and helps her grow with confidence.