What Is Sport Psychology and What Do Mental Performance Consultants Do?
What you’ll learn
The 5 myths of sport psychology
How can I benefit from training my mind?
How does mental training work?
READING TIME: 4 minutes
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Let’s Break Down the Stigma on Mental Performance
Mental performance (or sport psychology), the most recent addition to elite performance and human development is a crucial ingredient in the recipe for the path towards excellence and mastery. In this article, you’ll learn what sport psychology is and isn’t, what the main goals are, what the benefits of doing mental training are, what some of the most potent mental skills are, and how athletes work on these skills.
5 Myths on Sport Psychology
Before we go into what sport psychology is, let’s debunk a few common myths around it.
It is a form of therapy for people with mental issues. It is not. It’s for mentally healthy people who are looking to enhance performance.
It works equally well for all athletes & challenges. Not at all. It takes more effort for some people and for specific challenges because we are all different.
It is a quick fix for all problems. This is not true. It takes time and quality effort to improve our mental abilities and skills.
It is for mentally weak athletes. Not true. Mentally tough competitors may want to remove some psychological barriers or boost their mental performance to the next level.
One size fits all. Nope. Tailored interventions and strategies are used with each client. Each case is individual and unique, and there is no algorithm, rulebook, or recipe to follow
What is Sport Psychology?
Simply put, sport psychology is applying psychological principles to sports to help an athlete or a team improve their performance. It is the mental training that enhances performance and overall helps the athlete in their sports life (in training, competition) and non-sports life (work, relationships, school).
What are the main goals of sport psychology?
There are many objectives for working with a mental performance consultant, the main goals of sport psychology are:
Optimize performance enhancement
Manage performance dysfunction
Address performance impairment
Facilitate performance transition
How can people benefit from mental training?
Keeping in mind that making any sort of lasting change takes time, and a change in brain takes 8 weeks, there is a variety of amazing effects mental training can have on you. Through doing consistent, quality mental training, athletes may notice the following benefits:
Those benefits may optimize performance. But better results cannot be guaranteed (even though they often accompany the above-mentioned benefits).
What mental skills do athletes learn?
Everyone has a unique experience with mental training, strengths, weakness (areas for improvement). However, here are some mental skills that are commonly developed by athletes and coaches:
Relaxation
Motivation
Coping with stress
Leadership
Managing performance anxiety
Deep focus
Refocusing
Communication
Confidence
Who are these mental trainers?
Once a person wants to overcome a mental blocker or challenge, they need support to make that change permanent. Mental Performance Coaches/Consultants are university-educated, accredited professionals (Masters Degree in Sport Psychology), while a sport psychologist has a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Be wary of people who call themselves “mental coaches” and don’t have any university education or accreditation, These people will promise to create a huge change for you and usually won’t have the skills to back that up.
How does mental training work?
INDIVIDUALS. If you’re hiring a trained professional, here’s what you can expect. You will schedule an intake call to learn more about the professional, and see what they are about (this call should be free). After that, you'll sign on for a set amount of sessions, and start working on your challenge. The strategies you learn will depend on the approach of the professional, the gap you’re looking to fill, and whether you’re doing sessions in person or virtually, Sessions will be 30 to 75 minutes long, and at most once a week, and or once a month. Between sessions, you’ll have exercises to do (breathing, daily goals, performance reflections, visualizing) that should address the problem you’re looking to overcome. After 2-3 months, you should begin to notice that you’ve started to overcome your challenge. At some point, you will get to a stage where you don’t need the Mental Performance Coach anymore, as you’ve put in the mental reps to deal with the obstacle on your own.
GROUPS/TEAMS. Here’s what you can expect to bring a mental performance coach to work with your team. Depending on the setup of your contract, your team will experience experiential workshops (virtual or in-person) that address the main challenge you’ve brought the person in to address. There may also be short individual check-ins as this reinforces the change, and allows the coach to get different viewpoints.
Mental Performance Coaching is used in the workplace and beyond
People in all industries are performers who used their brains to interact with the world. Mental habits and techniques are key difference-makers at all levels of an organization outside of leadership and management roles. Business leaders, military units, educational teams, political teams and healthcare professionals can elevate the quality of their work and relationships through mental techniques.
Main Takeaways
Sport psychology (or mental training) is applying psychological principles to sports to help an athlete or a team improve their performance.
The mental skills often transfer to other areas of a performer's life
Mental training takes consistent, quality effort
Performers in business, military, education, politics and medicine can benefit from applying sport psychology principles to their craft