Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

When a coach encounters an athlete who is lazy, lacks motivation, or has a bad attitude there is usually a quick and dirty assessment done in the coach’s mind. If the athlete has enough talent, most coaches will increase their tolerance to put up with this negativity. But if the negativity outweighs the talent benefits to the team, most coaches will kick that athlete off their team.

However, not enough coaches consider a third option. Getting outside help to find the root cause of the athlete’s struggles. More likely than not, the root issue is closely related to one of the following:

• Fear
• Low self-esteem
• Lack of interest
• Lack of knowledge
• Lack of energy (due to bad diet / bad sleep habits)
• Depression
• Addiction

Each one of these issues can have serious long-term impacts on an athlete outside of sports. Therefore, it’s up to adults to not just write-off a kid as a problem child, and instead investigate further to find out the root cause of their behavior.

Sometimes this requires the intervention of professional mental health providers, psychologist, and therapist. But sometimes it’s simple things that the athlete is lacking such as setting and tracking goals, learning how to control one’s mind against negative self-talk, or making the connection between mental toughness and physical toughness. These are basic mental skills that can change an athlete’s life with the right amount of structure and coaching.

In short, physical problems become problems because of the lack of physical skills. Similarly, mental problems become problems because of the lack of mental skills. Unless there is a mental skills intervention, an athlete who struggles with negativity will continue to struggle their entire life. In some cases, it’s unreasonable to ask a coach to also be the source for intervention, however, in other cases it’s not only possible, but also the right thing to do.