The hero of the U.S. women’s rugby sevens bronze medal game, Alex Sedrick, says she doesn’t “have a lot of confidence in [herself],” but shares how she approaches her game and how it leads to success.
Alex Sedrick has every right to be confident.
But even after scoring the game-winning try and conversion to give the U.S. its first ever medal in women's rugby, the Utah native surprisingly doesn't feel that way.
"I'm not a player that functions off of confidence," Sedrick explained after Tuesday's bronze medal match. "I don't have a lot of confidence in myself. But I take that with moving to the next action, even if I have a little doubt in myself. I just try to think of the next action that's going to put me toward the goal. At the end of the day, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't."
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"Girls that ride on confidence, (that's) really great for them. I just don't function that way. I hope to, maybe someday, but I think what I have going for me right now is working at the moment."
Despite her apparent lack of confidence, experts say that doesn't impact performance in the midst of battle.
“Confidence is not a prerequisite to meeting the moment," Dr. Michael Gervais of Finding Mastery told NBC. "Confidence is something you call on after or before you do a task. Alex Sedrick was purely concentrated on the task at hand. It was one foot in front of another and her training took over. It was a beautiful display of deep concentration and world class determination.”
The 26-year-old Sedrick has been competing nationally for the U.S. since 2021, when she joined Team USA following the Tokyo Olympics. It's been a whirlwind, and she's just been trying to soak it all up while in Paris.
"I've been so calm and just trying to hold on to every moment. This week is going by so fast. The last three years that I've been in training have been going by so fast. I'm really just trying to slow down as much as I can and just be in this moment."
