What Do You Do When Called the Underdog?
Do you embrace the underdog role when most people predict you will lose a competition?
When you are the underdog, you have two choices: believing you can win or believing you will lose.
If you believe you are going to lose, your body and mind will likely follow suit. You won’t prepare fully. Self-doubt will take over your mind. A lack of confidence will create focusing issues during the competition.
All these mental and physical factors will hinder your performance. In all reality, believing you will lose will probably cause you to lose.
However, if you embrace the underdog role and believe you can win, you will be able to tap into your mental and physical potential, maximize your efforts, and put you in position to achieve your goal.
Embracing the underdog role requires:
- Ignoring Outside Noise – What others say means NOTHING. Shut out the external noise and focus on executing your game plan.
- Preparing to Compete and Win – Preparation builds confidence, sharpens your technical skills, and improves your ability to perform under pressure.
- Playing with Freedom – It is important to just play the game. The place for in-depth analysis is in the locker room and not on the court or field.
- Turning Negativity into Motivation – Let negativity from others ignite your competitive fire rather than extinguish it.
- Looking at the Facts – Both teams start 0-0 and the competition is not determined until the last second. The key is to perform your best between those two points.
Vanderbilt University enters the men’s 2025 NCAA basketball tournament as an underdog. Vanderbilt (20-12), will face St. Mary’s (28-5) in the first round.
Vanderbilt is a 5.5 point underdog against St. Mary’s, who is ranked 19th in the AP poll. Vanderbilt surpassed the predictions forecasted by the media, and beat five tournament teams (Tennessee, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Missouri) during the regular season.
How is Vanderbilt approaching the underdog role?
Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington reminded his team that they have beaten the odds all season and this game is just another chance to do the same.
BYINGTON: “We were against the odds the entire season. With what we had to do building this team and how fast … a lot of times [doubters] said something can’t be done. Then you’re picked at the bottom of the league. So we were always against the odds. … We did it so far this year. Now is the next time to do it again.”
The underdog role is not a disadvantage, but a negative mindset is. It is up to you to refuse to accept limitations or expectations set by others.
When you prepare with confidence, embrace the situation, and give yourself a chance to succeed, you can turn doubt into an advantage.
Winning starts in the mind. When you choose to believe, anything is possible.
Being the underdog can either be an obstacle or a source of motivation. When most people predict that you will lose, you face a critical decision: do you accept their judgment and let doubt take hold, or do you disregard their opinions and fight for victory?
The choice is yours, and it will shape how you perform.
Related Sports Psychology Article
- Mental Toughness as an Underdog
- How to Thrive as an Underdog in Sports
- How to Counter The Upset When Playing an Underdog
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