I recently spoke to Mike D’Andrea on the Courtside Culture Podcast. He is a former Ohio State Linebacker, who is now the owner of T3 Performance. It’s a training facility that offers mental performance training for their athletes, in addition to physical training.
Mental training is something that is often overlooked when it comes to sports. But not anymore. More and more coaches are recognizing the importance of mental training for sports performance.
Sports psychologists have been using mental training techniques like deep breaths, visualization and goal setting for years, but the mental game is now being recognized as an important part of the physical side of sports. You can’t have peak athletic performance without mental strength.
So, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can use mental training for your athletes to make your entire team and culture better.
What Is Mental Training?
Mental training is a segment of sports psychology that concentrates specifically on helping athletes break through the mental barriers that are keeping them from performing up to their peak potential. It’s about improving your players’ attitudes and mental skills to help them perform their best. Peak performance is what you’re looking for.
You can do this by identifying beliefs that are limiting your players’ potential and embracing a healthier philosophy about their position, role on the team, or their sport (in general). Mental skills, just like physical skills, take repetition, practice, and game-time application to develop.
It goes beyond mental toughness. The right mental training can build mental resilience that will help your athletes handle any situation they find themselves in.
Why Is Mental Training For Sports Performance Important?
Developing mental strength, resilience, and strategy can help an athlete on and off the field.
The mental training can be used to face challenges, handle success, failure, and teach your athletes to use fear as a motivating force not a debilitating one.
It’s not only cultivated through athletics, but also life experience. It’s helping the mind of your athlete reach its potential. It’s not genetic.
Mental Training Skills To Develop
There are many different techniques coaches can use to build mental resilience in their athletes. Some organizations are even turning to mental performance coaches to work alongside their teams’ coaches to ensure results.
Some of the mental aspects of the training can include:
- Attitude: Oftentimes successful athletes view their sport as an opportunity to compete against themselves and learn from their successes and failures.
- Motivation: Successful athletes often realize that many of the benefits come from their participation, not the outcome.
- Setting SMART Goals: These are goals that are realistic, measurable, and time-oriented.
- Effectively Dealing with Anxiety: Your athletes should develop techniques that help them to reduce anxiety when it becomes too strong, without losing their intensity.
- Handling Emotions: Teaching your athletes how to use their emotions
to improve, rather than interfere with high level performance.
There are many other techniques that are a part of mental training that can help your athletes perform better.
How Does Mental Training Help Team Culture?
Mental training for sports performance can go a long way in helping to build team culture. If your athletes have the right mindset (thanks to their mental training) they will accept the role you lay out for them and perform at their best. It’s about creating that buy-in, and having playings with mental resilience can help you get there.
So, the next time you’re putting your practice plan together, think about the mental skills you’re going to build as well. Spending a little time each day training your athletes’ brains will only add to their performance on the field, on the court, and later on in life.