Four words. One sentence. One result. “I believe in you.”

Growing up playing practically every sport, I’ll be honest, I really never heard that phrase until I began playing college tennis. I feel like this phrase is so incredibly vital in sports today, but how often do you really hear that from someone?

In our very first conference match of my freshman season, it came down to me and another one of my teammates as the decider. I had just split sets with my opponent, and we were about to start our third set. Right before I stood up to go to my side, my coach comes running over to me, looks me straight in the eyes, and says “I believe in you.” At that moment, I kind of had a weird epiphany where I had realized that no one had ever said that to me. At that moment, I had a whole new confidence in myself. At that moment, I knew that I could do it and that I could win. I ended up winning that match, and our team won the match overall. I already know that that moment will be my highlight of my college tennis career. Nothing will ever top a moment like that.

This phrase has so much power in it. I got extremely emotional after that match solely because of hearing that from my coach, not even from just winning. I think it is so incredibly important for anybody, not just athletes, to hear it on a daily basis. We all go through rough patches of life where we feel like nothing we do will make it any better. But if we have just one person tell us, “I believe in you,” it can change everything. I know this sounds so cliché, but you never know the impact something has on you until it actually happens.

Once you hear someone else say that they believe in you, then you begin to believe in yourself and your abilities. I struggle with self-confidence in certain things, and I bet anyone else reading this also has confidence issues. When I heard my coach say that I could do it, that belief in return affected my own thinking and my own belief in myself.

Don’t think that you need to be a coach or someone in a position of power to tell someone else that you believe in them. You can just be a peer or a good friend or even a stranger, and you can make the difference in someone by saying that you believe in them. People today and especially in today’s society need to know that there are people that truly believe in them and their abilities. You never know what could come out of it.