Mental Toughness Tools

It’s simple…. we all seek to experience pleasure and avoid pain. We do what feels good and fight ‘tooth and nail’ to stay away from what doesn’t. The only reason for choosing to endure pain is to experience pleasure in the end. Athletes, in particular, will suffer through intense training and treacherous conditions to earn the reward of a medal or positive praise from a coach. These rewards are the carrots on the stick and can either stop your athletes from improving or encourage them to reach the next level of performance.

The most effective way to coach your athletes is to provide frequent praise for new tasks and limited praise for tasks they already have acquired. If Johnny, a 15 year old golfer, is learning how to hit the ball out of the sand (i.e. bunker shot) for the first time, his golf pro will want to praise Johnny every time he makes contact with the sand, just in front of the ball, regardless of whether the ball makes it out of the bunker or not. Once Johnny can consistently make appropriate contact with the sand, his golf pro will want to offer less praise for that performance. He’ll move on to provide frequent praise for the new task of swinging through the sand.  Once that skill is consistent, Johnny’s golf pro will limit his praise for swinging through the sand and offer lots of praise for when the ball actually makes it out of the sand. This coaching technique will continue as Johnny progresses as a golfer.

Why does this coaching technique work? Once again, athletes want to experience pleasure in the form of praise. If Johnny’s golf pro continues to provide frequent praise for making contact with the sand, just in front of the ball, Johnny will have little reason to put forth the effort to improve. He is already experiencing pleasure so why do anything different? Conversely, if Johnny’s pro reduces his praise for appropriate sand contact and begins to provide lots of praise for swinging through the sand, Johnny will put forth the effort to perform that skill in order to feel the pleasure from his pro’s praise.

Call to Action

Think about your sport and the athletes you coach. How could you begin to incorporate this coaching technique? Inform your co-coaches of your ‘praise’ plan and work together to decide what task each athlete is improving. You and your co-coaches will want to limit the praise you give your athletes for tasks they have already mastered and increase the amount of praise you give them for tasks they are currently working on.

Believe and Achieve,
Dr. Haley

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Distractions happen in sport. Some of them are uncontrollable like game delays, comments made by spectators, change in weather and sudden equipment problems.

However, there are some distractions your athletes can control.

Your athletes have most likely had a “what if” thought? What if my team loses at our home field? What if I get injured? What if I don’t qualify for the championship? What if my coach doesn’t pick me to start? What if I disappoint my parents? What if I can’t put it together in the race?

No matter what the “what if” thought, you can ask your athlete this follow-up question: Is it worth the risk?

To be the best athlete you can be, it takes 100% focus and commitment to your performance. Your athlete’s desire to succeed must outweigh his/her desire not to fail. In other words, during competition, his/her focus must be on winning and not on what’s going to happen if he/she loses.

To have an unwavering focus on achievement, your athlete has to be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices in order to progress. Those sacrifices include injury and disappointment and they have to be worth the risk in order to achieve his/her goals and get where he/she wants to be in the chosen sport.

Call to Action:

As soon as your athlete has a “what if” thought, ask him/her the following two questions:

1. Is it worth the risk? If the answer is yes, proceed to question #2. If the answer is no, your athlete will need to review his/her achievement goals.
2. Why? What can you achieve with proper focus and commitment? Why do you want to achieve your goals – what will they do for you?

Believe and Achieve,
Dr. Haley

P.S. Leave a comment to tell me what you think or if you have any questions.
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For one reason or another, many of us have developed the tendency to label ourselves as either good or bad. Each one of your athletes believes him or herself to be a good athlete, who can improve with effort, or a bad athlete, who has no chance at success.

Can you place your athletes in these two categories? If so, read on to learn how you can influence a positive change in your athletes’ perceptions, eliminate the bad labels, and increase their level of confidence and determination to succeed.

The process is called Countering and involves the following four steps:

(1) Become aware (what do you believe?)
(2) Justification for your belief (provide evidence to support your belief)
(3) Counter your belief (provide evidence to disconfirm your belief)
(4) Create a new belief

For example, if Jersey makes a comment to you about her inability to perform (e.g. “I suck”ˆ). Instead of saying “No you don’t Jersey. Keep at it and it will come around”, take Jersey aside immediately for a few minutes to counter her belief.

Ask Jersey to list all of the reasons for why she thinks she “sucks”. Ask her to exhaust the list with specific and detailed reasons as to why she is a bad athlete.

While Jersey creates this list, pay careful attention to the details and the facts she provides to justify her belief. If Jersey made one unforced error during her last competition, she may say that she caused her team to lose. As Jersey’s coach, who just observed Jersey exaggerate the significance of her error, you must help her understand the reality of the situation. You could say, “Jersey, the team lost by 10 points, if you’re unforced error was responsible for giving the opposing team 2 points, how were you responsible for the team losing the entire game?”

Next, ask Jersey to make a list of her positive attributes that contribute to her athleticism. Remind Jersey of her successful performances, improvements in her technique, and the positive behaviors she has displayed in practice and competition (e.g. sportspersonship, determination, strong work ethic, etc.).  For best results, ask Jersey to write down all the reasons she has for being a good athlete.

The last step involves a comparison of lists. Through this comparison, Jersey will understand that, although there will always be frustrating practices and competitions in sports, she has a list full of facts that support her athleticism and when she chooses to focus on that list, she can continue to improve and increase her opportunity for positive results.

Call to Action:
Challenge yourself to identify your athletes who label themselves as bad athletes. Pull them aside to help them counter their beliefs and create new beliefs that are facilitating to their performance.

Believe and Achieve,
Dr. Haley

P.S. Leave a comment to tell me what you think or if you have any questions.
P.S. Click here to download a copy of this article to share with a friend