This is a fairly common response when the subject of body language is raised with an athlete. Athletes often disregard strategies such as body language because they do not notice any conscious change to their mentality or performance. However, research has shown that it's possible for behavioural changes to occur, even without ones conscious knowledge.

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In a study conducted by Riskind and Gotay (1982), participants were assigned to an upright (positive body language ) or slumped (negative body language) seated posture for a period of around 3 minutes, before being asked to complete 4 puzzles (2 of the puzzles were impossible to solve). The results showed that the participants who sat in the upright position were more likely to persist and spend additional time trying to solve the impossible puzzles, compared to the participants who adopted the slumped posture.

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What was also interesting about this finding, is that the participants didn't report any conscious change to their feelings, e.g., they didn't feel more confident, determined, or competent in their ability to complete the task. So even though they didn't feel any difference on a conscious level, the change in posture did actually produce a behavioural change, i.e. an increase in motivation to complete a task.
 

Gains in performance can sometimes be too small to notice, but these small gains when added up over a period of time (e.g. over the course of a season) can make a significant difference. Body language has shown to influence a number of areas related to sport performance.