Negative Self-Talk and Negative Outcomes a Chicken and Egg Problem with a Solution

It’s quite common for athletes to talk to themselves. Mental skill coaches call this “self-talk”. All athletes use self-talk, but some use it in a way that helps them, and others use it in a way that hurts them. When an athlete uses self-talk to hurt themselves, they talk to themselves with language that drives […]

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The #1 Mental Skill Athletes Need to Perform Better Under Pressure

“Pressure is a privilege.” That four-word quote that titles Billie Jean King’s book encapsulates the #1 mental skill athletes need to perform better under pressure. It’s also the #1 mental skill athletes need to perform better when they are dealing with training pain, fear, fatigue, or boredom. The name of this mental skill is reframing. […]

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The Old “Eyeball” Test Doesn’t Work for Assessing Mental Skills

This should be obvious, but it’s not. To make a correct assessment of an athlete’s mental skills a real assessment is required. Not just an “eyeball” test. Giving a struggling athlete the old “eyeball” test is not enough. For example, just because you see an athlete choke in the final minutes of a game multiple […]

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