Winning Mindset

“Mental toughness has been described as the ‘margin of victory’ between athletes performing at the highest level” (Etnier, 2009), while the quote is describing athletes at the highest level, the mental edge will allow the high school athlete to grow and develop into a seasoned thrower.

How does one become mentally tough you may ask, is it learned or does one have it in them from birth? Sometimes it looks like some athletes are just gifted and come ready to compete no matter the situation, and when a performance does not go their way, they seem not to worry much about it and come back the following week ready to throw; though this may get you upset, it is rather easy to change your mindset and achieve the results you want.

First is focus on the things that are controllable. The weather, timing of the meet, the number of entries and the amount of noise, are some of the things that are not in our control, however, there are many things that we can take control of in order to achieve the desired outcome. The athlete should focus on their technique, their meet preparation as well as their nutrition and hydration. Mentally tough athletes do not waste their time on a bad call by a referee, they focus their energies that are within their control.

Secondly, the athlete should use positive self-talk as well as positive talk when conveying performances as well. While coaching, I spoke to the athletes about positive self-talk and used the phrase “Positive Attitude, Positive Outcome”, this shifted the focus away from negativity and allowed the athlete to take control of the situation. The athlete begins to own the outcome and experience with positive self-talk, and therefore begins to grow. When the athlete blames others, or focuses on negative thoughts, they begin to remove themselves from the process, which will be talked about shortly, and can develop a negative mindset that could be hard to break if there becomes a string of meets that do not have the desired results. The athlete should also convey the results positively by taking credit for the actions.

The athlete can use positive attributes to their athletic performances, such as “My game plan was effective and I executed it well” or “I trained hard and I played well today” for wins, as well as positive attributes for losses “My game plan could have been better” or “I did not play well today” (Etnier, 2009).

Mental imagery can also help reduce anxiety and help to manage the energy levels of the athlete. There is an inverse relationship between anxiety and athletic performance, and if an athlete can use self-talk and mental imagery to help mediate their energy levels in a productive flow, then the result, if form is correct, will be a success. Anxiety in sports can greatly increase athletic performance, however, there is a value at which too much anxiety will dictate negative results.

Lastly is the process versus outcome mindset for the athlete and coach. The process is how the athlete gets there and the outcome is the overall result. If the athlete focuses on the result versus the outcome, then they are not able to respond to when a difficulty arises and that their minds may shift into negative thoughts. If the athlete and coach buy into the game plan that the process will achieve the desired results, than the results will be more predictable and more achievable in the future. An exmaple that I use with my athletes, are first the pyramid example and the football winning drive. The pyramid example is that the pyramids are very tall structures with wide stable bases, without the wide stable bases, the pyramids would not be as tall. The same holds true to athletics, if they athlete is only concerned at reaching a certain performance quickly, then the base is not established, and that athlete will only achieve a small goal; whereas if the athlete focuses on technique and the necessary steps to reach a goal, they will establish a firm foundation for their athletic performances to grow.