Assessing if an Athlete is Struggling Due to Mental or Physical Skills
If a coach does not spend a lot of time working with athletes on their mental skills, it’s difficult for that coach to assess that part of their game. When coaches only focus on the physical side of sports, every problem is a technical or tactical problem. As the saying goes, if the only tool you have is a hammer, you treat every problem like it’s a nail. The truth is however, most athletic struggles aren’t nails.
Just because an athlete makes a technical or tactical mistake repeatedly, doesn’t mean that they are having a technical or tactical problem. The problem could be mental while all the focus is being put on the physical side. As a result, coaches with less experience working with the mental side of sports need an objective way to assess the true source of an athlete’s struggles.
To address this, I recommend assessing four categories of performance that sport psychologist Robert M. Nideffer, PhD suggest in his book Psyched to Win. Nideffer has served as the sports psychologist for several Olympic teams and is renowned for his ability to teach practical mental skills that improve physical performance. Below is a summary of how he does his assessment.
1) Assess Satisfaction
Are you satisfied with your skill level when you are playing well? If not, then you probably don’t have the skill level…You need to develop greater strength, speed, and coordination and maybe alter your technique. The best way to do this is through physical practice.
2) Assess the Pattern of Mistakes
Do mistakes occur randomly, or do they increase in pressure situations? A purely technical problem will occur in a wide variety of situations…You will not be able to see a pattern to the problem. When the problem is psychological, the mistakes will tend to occur more frequently under pressure, and they will have a predictable pattern.
3) Assess Emotional State When Problems Occur
When you are having a problem, how do you feel? If you feel confident and in control of your thoughts and feelings, then the problem may involve nothing more than a simple technical issue. If you feel a sense of panic, if you feel pressured and rushed…or if you feel confused and overloaded…chances are the problem is primarily psychological.
4) Assess if the Problem is Narrow or Broad Reaching
Is the problem affecting only one aspect of your performance or are several things going wrong at the same time? When stress is a factor, the increase in muscle tension interferes with your vision and concentration. Under stressful conditions, you are not likely to be dealing with a single problem. Instead, you will find that everything is going wrong.