|
The following is from a website I found about nine mental skills athletes should have to be more successful.
1 Positive Attitude
|
Successful athletes:
-
Realize that choosing a positive attitude is their choice.
-
Pursue excellence and peak performance, not perfection.
-
Learn from their successes and failures.
-
Understand the importance of maintaining balance between sport and other aspects of their lives.
2 Motivation
Successful athletes:
-
Are self-motivated to achieve desired results and peak performance.
-
Are able to persist through difficult tasks and difficult times.
-
Appreciate that many of the benefits of sport come from participation, not from the outcome.
3 Goals and Commitment
Successful athletes:
-
Set long- and short-term goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-oriented (SMART).
-
Are highly committed to attaining their goals and executing the rigorous demands of their training programs.
-
Monitor their current performance levels and make adjustments to their training as necessary.
4 People Skills
Successful athletes:
-
Communicate their thoughts, feelings, and needs to others appropriately.
-
Listen to coaches, teammates, officials, families, and friends appropriately.
-
Effectively deal with conflict, difficult opponents, and other people who are negative or oppositional.
5 Self-Talk
Successful athletes:
-
Are aware of the self-talk they give themselves in training, before competition, and during competition.
-
Maintain their self-confidence during difficult times with positive self-talk.
-
Talk to themselves with dignity and respect, as if talking to a friend.
-
Use self-talk to regulate thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during competition, and immediately reframe negative thoughts into positive thoughts.
6 Mental Imagery
Successful athletes:
-
Prepare themselves in training by imagining themselves performing well in competition.
-
Create and use mental images that are personal, detailed, specific, and realistic.
-
Use imagery during competition to prepare for action and recover from errors and poor performances.
7 Dealing Effectively with Anxiety
Successful athletes:
-
Accept anxiety as part of sport.
-
Realize that some degree of anxiety can help them perform well and achieve peak performance.
-
Know how to regulate and reduce anxiety when it becomes too strong or inappropriate, without losing their intensity or focus.
8 Dealing Effectively with Emotions
Successful athletes:
-
Understand that strong emotions such as excitement, anger, and disappointment are part of the sport experience.
-
Are able to regulate and channel these emotions to improve, rather than interfere with, peak performance.
9 Concentration/Focus
Successful athletes:
-
Know what is important to pay attention to during each performance situation.
-
Know how to maintain concentration and resist distractions, whether externally or internally generated.
-
Are able to quickly and effectively regain their focus when concentration is lost during competition.
-
Stay in the moment and are not distracted by past or future situations.
Note: To help athletes develop and maintain concentration and focus, AMP’s Peak Performance Training uses the Peak Achievement Trainer, a patented neurovideofeedback training
|
|
| |
|
