What is Mental Performance?
About The Author: Alex Bolowich is a current mental performance coach helping athletes go from hesitating to taking convicted action without the fear of mistakes revealing the fulfillment they're looking for. Alex has a Master of Science in Sport and Performance Psychology, was a former NCAA Division 1 soccer goalkeeper, and is currently getting certified by the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.
Question To Start:
How many times has a coach told you to "be confident" or "focus on the next play?" And how many times did you nod in agreement but have a slight confusion on "how?" Exactly. We're very good at figuring out what we want to do, but the HOW is the magic.
It would be similar if your coach said "jump higher!" and you're thinking, "but I jumped as high as I could?" So what do you do? You go to a performance coach that helps you work on your vertical. You did some movements like power cleans, single leg plyometrics, etc. and you improve your vertical. Sure, you may not be as naturally gifted in jumping as other athletes, so there's still a limitation.
And that's the best part about mental performance, is you can train it just like physical performance, but you actually don't have a limitation, it can always get better!
With that said, here are 5 things you need to know about what mental performance is, and what you need to know for your mental skills training...
1. What is Mental Performance?
Mental performance is a branch of sport psychology. The sport psychology umbrella ranges from helping athletes with mental health, to mental wellness, to mental performance.
Mental health is where the focus is on the holistic day-to-day moment-to-moment operations where athletes are addressing symptoms of depression, general anxiety, and recovering from trauma to name a few.
Mental wellness is about structuring your day or week to ease the normal stressors you feel, such as time management, navigating social life, and tapping into life outside of sport.
Mental performance is about training mental muscles such as focus, confidence, composure under pressure, and energy management so you can use your mind like any other muscle in the body to improve your performance on game day. Here's a TEDx video to give you a thorough look on sport psychology inside the athlete's mind. Take a look at our blog on the new method of training.
2. How to Train Mental Strength:
Mental toughness training is very similar to physical training:
It takes time and repetition to build mental skills like focus or confidence. Consistency is key! This is what we refer to as mental discipline.
There are exercises to do outside of the game that involve mindfulness, imagery, and breath work, to name a few. These exercises can range anywhere from 1 minute to 1 hour, depending on your experience and what you're looking to train.
If you don't use it, you lose it. Just like your physical fitness, when you stop working out, you get slower, weaker and out of shape. Maintenance is key!
"The mind is the muscle that controls all of the other muscles. Why wouldn't you train it?
3. Find a Mental Coach
There's two types of mental coaches, the ones who know what works for them, and the ones who know what works for you. It's important to know if your mental coach is competent and ethically sound. How do you do that?
Look for a mental coach that has a formal education. Typically a masters or doctorate in performance psychology is a great start! If they are CMPC certified, even better. The Association of Applied Sport Psychology is the largest sport psychology organization in the world, and their certification process certainly weeds out those who are not competent or ethically sound.
Mental coaches are not motivational speakers. Be careful of the ones who encourage the "ra-ra" hype mode conversations. They are providing you external inspiration, not coaching you on how to build it from within.
Does the mental coach have to have played at the level the athlete has? Nope. There is a relatedness and connection that might be easier to develop so it can definitely help, but isn't necessary.
Do they have to have professional experience? Yes and no. Everyone always starts somewhere. And 10+ years experience doesn't completely mean 10x expertise, if you know what I mean. But there is a good chance a more experienced mental coach can lead to a better understanding of how to apply training for you.
Want to start? Schedule a meeting with myself to see if we are a good fit. I will be honest with you, and respect your preferences. Worst case scenario, if we're not a good fit that's okay! I will save you time from restarting the search process because I will refer you to a trusted professional in the field.
4. How do you measure mental performance?
This is a BIG topic for athletes to understand. Why?
Mental performance is invisible. You cannot see emotions or thoughts. You can see how they influence your actions with body language or the nature of how you perform. But you cannot see the "weights" that you may see in the gym. It's not an easy measure like going from squatting 200lbs to 250 in 4 weeks.
Assessments are a good start to help you get an understanding of your mental skills and where you can train them. At EMP we have our own mental skills assessment we start and finish our Mental Mastery Program with. Every organization is different whether they incorporate assessments and how they incorporate them.
The real assessment is the one you have with your game. Working with a mental coach will help you shine a light on how your thoughts and emotions are negatively impacting your actions.
For example, you may struggle with recovering from a setback because you're in your head thinking you're not good enough and your coach is going to take you out of the game. That influences you to be hesitant on the field and you're not taking chances and just playing safe. Your goal is play with conviction and take risks when the game calls for it. That's establishing where your mental game can improve. That's how you measure.
5. Will Improving My Mental Game Guarantee Results?
This depends on what you qualify as results. Allow me to explain because many athletes have expectations about physical and mental training that can create frustration for them:
Results from an outcome standpoint are never guaranteed with ANY training. Winning games, getting a starting spot, or winning an award. This is because we cannot control variables like opponents, other players within the team, and coaching decisions.
Results from a performance standpoint can be greatly influenced by mental training. That's where we are looking to connect where you are to where you want to go. Even though you will never be 100% in anything, you will miss passes, shots, etc. We are looking to see how the mental training has influenced your play.
Results from controlling your experience is what we look more into. We are not looking for "what" you did (results), we're looking for "how" you did it. For example, a basketball player driving to the basket with aggression and purpose, but missed the shot. This can be identified as success if that player was hesitating to drive to the basket at all. For some, winning is just being able to compete again from a horrific injury.
Conclusion
Sport psychology is a huge field that ranges from mental health, to mental wellness, to mental performance. It is easy to get lost. Make sure you are clear on what your experience is in and out of sports. Meet with a certified mental performance coach and discuss how they can help you take your mental game to the next level. Make sure they are qualified as best as you can. And remember, mental skills just like physical skills need consistency and maintenance to be fully effective. It's not about talking the mental game, it's about playing it.