If 90 percent of sports is mental, why do we spend 90-100 percent only on the physical aspect?
More and more professional sports organizations are recognizing the strong “mind-body” connection and how that affects self-confidence, sports performance and overall team satisfaction.
In recent years, many professional and college organizations have incorporated mental sports training to help athletes increase focus, concentration, reduce anxiety and help with confidence connected to performance and skills.
The Chicago Cubs have a Mental Skills coach who helps players with relaxation, visualization and calming techniques.
The Chicago Bears also employs a licensed mental therapist who helps players with Mindfulness techniques to help reduce anxiety, performance stress and process the “emotional” part of the game.
While student-athletes may not have the same level of high-pressure as professional athletes, they still face many unique challenges that can contribute to sports stress and anxiety, including parent-coach expectations, sports safety, scheduling and training time, as well as social media comparison.
However, you don’t need to be a professional sports player to learn the skills and strategies many top-level athletes use to help train the mind to ultimately strengthen their physical performance.
Mindfulness at the Heart of Sports Training
Practice, weight training and conditioning help build strong muscles, but unless you are strengthening your mental muscles, your mind may be a more formidable foe than your opponent.
At the heart of cultivating confidence, focus and concentration is Mindfulness, the practice of present-moment awareness to connect with your feelings, thoughts and emotions and allows your mind to make better choices.
Over four decades of scientific research has shown that practicing Mindfulness changes the neuroplasticity of your brain in the area that allows for emotional regulation and higher-order thinking, reducing your “Fight, Flight or Freeze” reaction that contributes to impulsive reactions and negative thought patterns, that can affect sports performance.
Our brain has a habitual pattern of responding to interactions or situations, and can manifest in irrational thinking or distorted thoughts. To help redirect and be more mindful of what is happening in the present moment, you can use the following redirection or grounding techniques to train your brain to switch to the “here and now.”
- Use your senses - The moment you begin to feel anxiety or your mind wanders to unhealthy thoughts, acknowledge them (because we don't want to dismiss any emotions), but see if you can redirect and go to your senses -- what do you smell, taste, feel, hear, see? to help reconnect to the present moment to reduce the intensity and duration of the thoughts. Or just focus specifically on all the sounds around you.
- Focus on your breath - Take 10 deep breaths. Imagine a ray of light breathing into your body and washing away the anxiety or anger.
- Focus on your body - Do a quick body scan - going through each one of your body parts to feel different sensations and emotions in your body. You might hold your emotions in your hands, stomach, chest, shoulders, etc., but begin to focus on each body part to help reduce your distressing emotions.
- STOP acronym to redirect - S =Stop/T=Take several deep breaths/O=Observe what's going on around you, within you; P = Proceed to present moment. Practice this at every "STOP" sign or red light to cultivate the practice.
- Pick a color - Green, blue, yellow, etc. and be mindful of all the things in the room or outside with that color to help redirect to present moment.
Visualization and Imagery
Visualization or imagery is the “process of creating a mental image or intention of what you want to happen or feel in reality,” according to Elizabeth Quinn, MS.
The concept includes guiding your mind through specific images of a desired performance or experience - visualizing detail by detail each move, the environment and the senses surrounding the experience - picturing what you see, hear, see, smell and taste - and imagining your best game.
By repeatedly practicing this visualization - your mind can call up these images in the moment to actually perform the skills and performances
Positive Self-Talk
Our brains are hard-wired for a negative bias. From an evolution standpoint, our brains were developed to look out for threats for survival. However, because of negative brain bias, we have a tendency to focus on the negative, when a majority of our experiences in any given experience were positive. This can also be true into sports performance. How many times do athletes focus on what went wrong - if it's a small percentage of a positive game, instead of recognizing positive parts of their game? Below are several tips for strengthening positive outlooks and reducing negative thought patterns:
- Practice gratitude - One of the best antidotes to stress is cultivating gratitude. Anytime you are worried or stressed, think of 5 things you are grateful for to help subdue your negative brain bias.
- Write down all the positives about your recent sports experience - It doesn’t always have to be about performance- everything from cheering on your teammates, to handling adversity to being a good leader.
- Identify a mantra - Utilizing a mantra can counterattack negative self-talk. Practicing positive phrases or affirmation can challenge negative brain bias. Examples of mantra include: “I have trained hard and I’ve got this,” or “I am good enough, ” or “Just have fun and enjoy the process.”
The stress of being a student-athletes can impact not only physical performance but also mental health. Identifying ways to improve confidence, focus and concentration, can not only increase sports performance but also strengthen how much fun they are having, which is ultimately the most important outcome.
For more information about strategies or tips or to learn more about upcoming Mental Skills Training Groups for Student Athletes, reach out to Erin Swinson, LMHC at eswinson@clarity.nwi.com
Erin Swinson, LMHC
Mental Health Therapist
NWI Clarity Clinic
