Let’s say an athlete on the team is having trouble with their mental toughness when things get hard in practice. The athlete knows this, their teammates know this, and the coach knows this. Basically, it’s no secret that the athlete has a problem with mental toughness. Moreover, the coach doesn’t want this problem spilling over […]
Athletes tell themselves things all the time to rationalize their situation. This self-talk sometimes helps their performance and sometimes it hurts. Specifically, when an athlete tells themselves lies about their mental toughness to rationalize their situation, this self-talk hurts. For example, when some athletes struggle mentally, they rationalize it by saying this is just how […]
One of the first things I teach athletes who I work with on mental toughness is that mental toughness is not just an idea, it’s a practice. Without defining the practice of mental toughness specifically, athletes have no practical changes to focus on during their training. To teach the specific practices of mental toughness, I […]