Coaches spend endless amount of time on the physical skills, watching game film, recruiting, running drills but are you implementing the mental game? When you add the mental aspect to some physical, technical and tactical skills, you will get the most out of your athletes.
Try some of the suggestions below to help your athletes and team improved their mental game:
Before practice
- Encourage a mental warm-up before practice.
- Write in their mental game journals for five minutes before practice to get focused. Check out “The Confidence Journal” for your team: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1793370877. Contact Tami@r2l.mysites.io for group rates
- Have a practice/competition goal that is within their control.
- Prior to practice review their Me Circle (what they can control).
Implement during practice
- During warm up, remind them visualize seeing themselves accomplishing their goals for that day.
- Pressure your athletes to “win” certain drills in practice so that they get used to performing under pressure.
- Remind them to use their reset button.
- Require strong body language at all times.
- If focus wanes, call a practice “timeout” and ask them to take a deep breathe and change their focus.
- Remind them to focus on what they want to happen vs what they fear.
After practice
- Ask the team what went well (www’s) and what they will do differently (wwdd’s) for the next practice or competition. A 5-2 ratio is ideal.
- At the end of practice, have your athletes journal. Include what went wells, what they would do differently, how well they stayed in their Me Circle, if goals were reached, etc.
- Text a couple of players to send encouraging messages, shout outs, or challenges.
- Encourage them to visualize themselves in competition before going to bed.
Outside of practice.
- Encourage team connection and bonding throughout the season.
- Encourage and model productive conversation. Have the hard conversations.
- Find a book for the team to read and implement together. Check out “The Confident Athlete” as a possibility https://r2lc.com/the-confident-athlete-4-easy-steps-to-build-and-maintain-confidence/.
- Have frequently individual informal meetings with your players and staff, unrelated to their performance or even the team.
For more information on specifics on how to prepare yourself mentally contact tami@r2l.mysites.io, follow us on twitter @tamimatheny and @r2lcoaching and visit our website: https://r2lc.com.
Tami Matheny is a Mental Game Coach and Author of “The Confident Athlete: 4 Easy Steps to Build and Maintain Confidence” and “The Confidence Journal”. She owns and runs, Refuse2LoseCoaching which provides mental coaching for athletes and teams at all levels.
For more information about “The Confident Athlete” visit: https://r2lc.com/the-confident-athlete-4-easy-steps-to-build-and-maintain-confidence/. Both books can be purchased online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. For group discounts contact tami@r2l.mysites.io.
For daily confidence tips, sign up for the monthly confidence calendar: https://r2lc.com/monthly-confidence-calendar-newsletter/.
If you are on Facebook join the group Parents and the Mental Game for daily advice, tips, motivation, etc. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1491446574332599/.