Long acknowledged is the importance of mental skills training in order for one to perform at their best. Traditional approaches such as self-talk, affirmations, visualisation and goal-setting through to more contemporary approaches of improving in-the-moment awareness through mindfulness, have all been used in a variety of sports (or any performance-based) settings over time. Baseball legend Yogi Berra supported this type of psychological training by his famous remark that, “baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical.” Additionally, sports scientists Weinberg and Gould (2015) posited that the majority of coaches regard sports performance to be at least 50% mental when the competition involves opponents of similar physical ability and as much as 80% to 90% mental in certain sports such as golf, tennis and figure skating. Lynch and Scott (1999) reported asking some of the best elite runners in the United States about the percentage of their daily performance attributed to their level of mental fitness and invariably heard 80% to 90% as well.
So with popular belief and a widespread understanding of the importance of mental skills training being congruent, one would think that mental skills training would be an important priority within high-performance sporting domains. Peculiarly, this is often not the case.
Within this article, what constitutes mental skills training, the issues surrounding such training and the best way forward will all be unpacked.
What is mental skills training?
Numerous definitions can be found regarding mental skills training. Also known as mental performance training, this practice often refers to the acquisition of psychological strategies through dedicated, methodical and repeated practice of mental exercises to facilitate effective and functioning in training and competition (Dosil, 2006; Vealey, 2007; Weinberg and Gould, 2015). Often linked with this definition within sports (or performance-based) psychology is the need to approach mental skills training with the same intensity as one approaches their physical training (Dosil, 2006, Lynch and Scott, 1999).
In its applied form, there are many approaches used within mental skills training. One common approach is self-talk. This practice refers to the various statements that athletes and performers say to themselves usually during either training or competition and although self-talk can be said aloud, most self-talk is said covertly, as a silent voice in one’s mind. The nature of self-talk can reflect positive (e.g., I can do this) or negative (e.g., don’t mess this up) verbalisations. Self-talk is used for many performance enhancement reasons, among which includes increased focus, self-efficacy and motivation.
Affirmations is similar to self-talk, however it is more specific, positive and individualised. To illustrate, one may incorporate self-talk by saying to themselves before taking a tricking putt in golf, “c’mon, stay focused.” An affirmation however, would sound like, “I know I’m really good at doing this. I know my emotional state. I’m very positive.” Systematic reviews on the research on self-talk and affirmations have confirmed that these skills can be effective at enhancing performance and that these benefits hold across various sports or tasks and skill levels (Hardy, 2006).
Visualisation or imagery (another technique used in mental skills training), is essentially the act of watching something in your mind before actually doing it. Cummings and Ramsey (2009) describe visualisation as “a psychological technique that mimics real experience, and often involves using a combination of different senses. It has demonstrated its effectiveness in sport through positively affecting psychological states such as decreasing anxiety and enhancing self-efficacy and concentration. It is also beneficial for use as a coping strategy, maintaining existing skills and reviewing past performances.
Goal setting is widely recognised as an effective means to motivate individuals to achieve some valuable or important purpose. Goal-setting theory suggest that establishing clear, measurable, achievable goals is an important step in the process of achieving one’s own goals whilst also providing a sense of direction and purpose. Much of the pioneering work on goal setting has been carried out by Dr Edwin Locke. He suggests that goal-setting works to improve performance in four distinct ways; (1) It causes the individual to focus, (2) it mobilises effort, (3) it enhances long-term persistence and (4) it promotes new learning strategies. Interestingly, whilst goal setting has shown great efficacy in terms of performance enhancement, it must be noted that although certain personalities are drawn to it, others have found it limiting and stifling.
Finally, the ancient practice of mindfulness has found its way into more contemporary approaches to performance enhancement. Defined by world-renowned expert Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994) as, “ the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally,” mindfulness-based meditations are now used as a means of improving one’s ability to focus their attention upon what is happening in the very moment.
When putting this into a sporting (or any performance-based) context, having heightened attention, increased focus and improved concentration, are all constructs that are crucial to improved output. Importantly, mindfulness helps one change their relationship they have with their thoughts. By incorporating the element of non-judgement, performance inhibitors such as anxiety, stress and self-doubt can be viewed as part of the human experience and are therefore seen as neither good nor bad. Hence do not need to be modified, reduced or eliminated. Furthermore, one of the great benefits of mindfulness is that it affords a person a moment’s space to respond to situations in a way that is aligned with their values, as opposed to react to them in an emotional-driven manner.
The issues surrounding mental skills training
In developing their Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement program, Kaufman, Glass and Pineau (2018), found that there were three major factors that hampered the implementation of mental skills training for both athletes and teams: perceived lack of time, a knowledge gap and distrust of the unknown.
Weinberg and Gould (2015) posited that the most significant impediment to the teaching and practicing of mental skills in sports is the popular sentiment that too little time is available. Noted was that people in athletics were not necessarily opposed to mental training, it was just that there were “so many time obstacles”. This was particularly evident with sportsmen and women who competed at a semi-professional level, as sporting commitments often had to be balanced against work and study obligations.
Another significant barrier to systematic mental training is the lack of knowledge. Although many coaches and sports administrators have profound knowledge in the tactics and strategies of their teams, often lacking is the ability to train the mind (Kaufman, Glass and Pineau, 2018). Frequently remarked is that coaches may instruct their players to “focus” but how an athlete is taught to do this, is another matter altogether. Kaufman et.al also noted that many coaches are required to take certain courses to become accredited, however too few of the courses addressed the principles of mental training.
Finally, distrust of the unknown can also be an obstacle to mental performance training. Closely linked to the knowledge gap, people often fear what they don’t know and therefore a level of scepticism surrounding mental skills training, often presents. This may extend to sporting organisations misgivings about utilising a mental performance consultant (a distrust of outsiders) to work with their athletes.
The best way forward
In order for both individual athletes or sporting organisations to implement best practice, it is recommended that the importance of mental skills training be akin to the emphasis placed up physical training; it must be prioritised and practiced regularly. Rather than adopting a ‘parachuting in” approach (where mental skills training is utilised only in response to modify, reduce or eliminate any maladaptive thoughts and behaviours that an athlete may be experiencing at a particular time), individuals and teams would be best served by systematically integrating mental skills training as part of their overall training schedule. A proactive approach, one that incorporates consistent practice of mental skills over a significant duration of time, is recommended to yield the best results. As Anders Ericsson (famously linked with the 10,000 hours rule for the achievement of expertise) wrote, “it is the commitment to deliberate practise that distinguishes elite performers from the masses of others who struggle to meet their performance demands” (Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Romer, 1993).
To conclude, leading US sports psychologist Michael Gervais states that there are only three things in life that we can train; our body, our craft and our mind. In order for sportsmen and women to perform at their best, to have full, rich experiences and to constantly strive towards the outer reaches of their potential, consistent, systematic work is required not only in the physiological and relevant skills, but importantly, on the development of strong and evidence-based psychological practices.
References
Cummings, J. & Ramsey, R. (2009). Advances in applied sport psychology, a review. London: Routledge.
Dosil, J. (2006). Applied sport psychology: A new perspective. In J. Dosil (Ed.), The sports psychologist’s handbook (pp. 3-17). Chichester, England: Wiley.
Ericsson, K.A., Krampe, R.T., & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, 363-406.
Hardy, J. (2006). Speaking clearly: A critical review of the self-talk literature. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 7, 81–97.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York, NY: Hyperion.
Kauffman, K.A., Glass. C.R., & Pineau. T.R., (2017). Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement. USA: American Psychological Association.
Locke, E. A. (1990). A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs , NJ .
Lynch, J., & Scott, W. (1999). Running within: A guide to mastering the body-mind-spirit connection for ultimate training and racing. Champaign, IL: Human Kenetics.
Vealey, R. S. (2007). Mental skills training in sport. In G. Tenenbaum & R. Eklund (Eds.). Handbook of sport psychology (3rd ed., pp. 287-309). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Weinberg, R.S., & Gould, D. (2015). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology (6thed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kenetics.