With Halloween in full swing, my daughter spent a lot of time choosing her costume for her first school dance. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be Barbie or wear an outfit like Beetlejuice, Shrek, Deadpool, or the Joker to hide her identity so that she would be unrecognizable to her classmates. Instead of full-on face paint, she chose Barbie and some subtle makeup so her friends could easily find her at the Halloween Howl dance.
Similarly, some athletes, coaches, and former athletes wear a mask that holds them back from being their authentic selves. It’s called the “impostor syndrome.” Impostor Syndrome is persistent self-doubt in your skills, talents, and accomplishments compared to other athletes despite evidence to suggest the contrary.
Athletes experiencing this phenomenon feel they don’t deserve success, attribute their accomplishments to luck, don’t measure up to expectations, or doubt they can build successful ventures outside of sport.
The impostor syndrome can impact anyone, regardless of their level of success, education, or talent. For athletes, this feeling can be incredibly intense. Athletes work in a high-stakes, hyper-competitive environment where performance is constantly scrutinized and publicized. Whether on the field or off, during their career or post-retirement, many athletes struggle with feeling like they’re not “good enough” despite having reached significant milestones. Understanding impostor syndrome, its root causes, and how to manage it is crucial for maintaining mental well-being and confidence both on and off the field.
Understanding Impostor Syndrome in Athletes
Simply stated, impostor syndrome is feeling or fearing that one will be exposed as a fraud. I remember the first professional team that hired me as their mental performance coach. I had competed at a high level as an athlete but nowhere close to the professional level. I was part of the medical staff with no medical degree. I knew my shit. I had been through some shit as an athlete, but when I was introduced to the team, I felt I didn’t belong. However, after a few weeks of interacting with the players during the preseason, the team accepted me as one of their own, even inviting me to post-game social events.
The Impostor Syndrome causes accomplished athletes to believe they are not talented or deserving of success. These athletes often feel inadequate despite their high draft status, lucrative contracts, awards, records, or praise. They constantly compare themselves to other athletes, stoking doubts about their place in sports or post-career business ventures.
Complicating matters, they scroll social media searching for validation from the outside world, not realizing social media is a cruel, dark universe of judgmental, negative people who are quick to offer their unwarranted, unknowledgeable, and harmful criticism (even though most of those critics never made it passed the Pop Warner, Tee-Ball or neighborhood pickup game levels).
Why Athletes Experience Impostor Syndrome
Various factors can trigger impostor syndrome:
High-Performance Expectations: Professional sports are about winning, and athletes often constantly feel pressure to improve. The demand for peak performance can make even the most successful athletes feel like they don’t measure up if they don’t hit every mark.
Social Comparison: Athletes are surrounded by teammates and competitors at the top of their game, leading to continuous comparison. Social media can amplify this effect, making athletes hyper-aware of what their peers are accomplishing.
Media and Public Scrutiny: The public nature of an athlete’s career adds a layer of pressure. The press often holds athletes to impossible standards, and scrutiny over performance can reinforce feelings of not being “enough.”
Transitioning out of Sports: Retirement brings a unique set of challenges. Athletes who spent years being celebrated may feel lost or unworthy after retirement. Many believe their value is tied to athletic performance, leading to self-doubt when they can no longer compete.
Impostor Syndrome for Retired Athletes
For retired athletes, impostor syndrome can be particularly difficult because it often coincides with an identity crisis. The athlete’s identity has often been defined by their total immersion into the sporting world from an early age. It often feels like being an athlete is the only thing they can do, and leaving the sport can leave a void. Retired athletes might doubt their worth and relevance in the “real world,” especially when faced with new career challenges or ventures.
Transitioning from being an athlete can trigger impostor syndrome. Athletes may worry that their skills don’t translate or that they don’t have the qualifications for traditional jobs.
Secondly, athletes often lose the public attention and adulation they once enjoyed. This shift can foster feelings of inadequacy and question their self-worth outside of sports.
Lastly, when athletes achieve success post-retirement, they may downplay it, feeling like it doesn’t measure up to their athletic achievements, believe they succeeded out of luck or were merely given a position with a company due to their notoriety, not their qualifications.
Strategies to Overcome Impostor Syndrome
The first step to overcoming impostor syndrome is recognizing that it’s common and doesn’t mean you’re inadequate. Knowing that many elite athletes experience it can make it easier to cope.
Talking with others who understand the pressure of professional sports can help put things into perspective. Many athletes find solace in speaking with retired players or mentors who can share their own struggles with self-doubt.
Acknowledging your accomplishments helps internalize achievements, creating a mental record to revisit during moments of doubt. By acknowledging successes, athletes can remind themselves that they are skilled and deserving.
Overcoming impostor syndrome involves valuing internal measures of success. By focusing on personal growth, improvement, and commitment rather than external praise or comparisons, athletes can build confidence in their worth.
For retired athletes, setting new, meaningful goals can provide a sense of direction and purpose. Whether these goals are within a new career, a non-profit venture, or philanthropic opportunities, they help redefine success in ways not tied solely to athletic performance.
Embracing Growth Beyond Sport
Impostor syndrome may never disappear entirely, but it doesn’t have to dominate your self-view. By cultivating a growth-oriented mindset, leaning into new challenges, and finding a support network, you can tackle impostor syndrome, re-invent yourself after sport, and redefine your sense of self-worth.
This journey involves shifting from an identity based on performance to one built on resilience, effort, tackling new challenges, and embracing change. Overcoming impostor syndrome isn’t about silencing self-doubt but learning to accept and live alongside it with confidence and pur
Whether in the prime of your career or exploring life after sports, your unique skills and experience can help you thrive and inspire others to be the best versions of themselves.
JJ Weber is a Co-Founder of Player Support Services and Director of Sports and Injury Psychology. PSS is committed to revolutionizing player care for professional, Olympic, and collegiate athletes during and after their athletic careers.
JJ is also an experienced writer who specializes in sports and performance psychology, mental training, fitness, well-being, and parenting.
For questions about this article or Player Support Services, contact JJ: joe@player-support.com
