Coaching Mental Toughness to Reach Peak Performance
Whatever the level of competition or game played, physical ability and technical skills make up the difference between opponents. However, the most important aspect is mental preparation often overlooked or at least under-taught in daily training. Even at the Elite and Olympic level where physical and technical are pretty much the same between athletes, mental strength and determination is the outstanding component for peak performance. I have always emphasized that mental attributes need to be taught and trained early on – if not – are these athletes to begin that aspect of training at the age 14 or 15 somehow through ‘osmosis’?
During an International dual swim meet in my hometown in Bavaria, I was supposed to anchor the leg of the 4x100m Breaststroke relay (part of competition in those days). It was also permitted then to switch relay orders. My coach signalled me to take the 3rd position as we were about 20m behind the lead team! Given that challenge I absolutely was convinced that I could make up that distance – after all I was expected to do that. According to my mother sitting in the stands with 12,000 other spectators (Yes, we drew that kind of attendance!), everyone was wondering about my racing strategy going into the 100m with full effort in the first 50 meters (long course pool). By the time I reached the wall for the turn I could see the feet of my opponent just leaving the wall. By 75 meters we were equal! It became a battle of inches [cm] and when finally touching the wall I had gained a half body length. All I can remember was screaming at my teammate taking off overhead: ‘halten’ [hold] While collapsing to the concrete floor, this stupid Radio reporter sticking his mike into my face, asked ‘how I felt!’ What did I learn from that race? It is never over until it is over! AND that “Impossible is Nothing”, which became my personal slogan henceforth. Mental toughness was always part of every skill or strategy I taught and trained with my athletes as young as 6-7 years old, such as attention span, focus, concentration, fortitude (determination) and will power.
I used to tell my University gymnasts at ASU that competition was never lost or won until “we are in the locker room and dressed to go outside.” I remember a regional competition in Long Beach, California whereby the team was in second place by 0.5 points and expected to lose but we ‘pulled it out’ winning the competition by 0.25 points! I had observed during the 2-minute Warm-up on the Floor exercise that gymnasts wearing socks tended to slip on the mat. I got my team into a huddle and explained my observation and we decided to compete in bare feet. They doubted me but they followed through. I also put my best gymnast on the floor as the first competitor (very unusual)! It was common knowledge that judges at that time escalated the score from the first to the last competitor (6 per team). The second best gymnast competed last for ASU and as expected her floor score was higher than she usually scored based on that scoring system! As stated, we were 0.5 points behind and the Long Beach competitor (an Olympian) was up last. Everyone expected her to receive the top score BUT she slipped on her last tumbling pass crashing to the floor, and the deduction was 1.00 point at that time for a fall. My gymnasts were speechless! How did I know? Well, observation during the Warm-up!
Before upcoming gymnastics competitions, I used to call the hosting university and asked to fax the layout of their gym for the competition. In those days, telephone and faxing were the common communication tools. I proceeded to arrange our gym the same way except for the uneven bars, which were anchored into floor plates. My concern was mostly the balance beam positioning. I drew up the new layout with reference to the opponent’s gym. I arranged a ‘mock’ competition with 2 judges to put the team under pressure. I wanted to determine potential mental breakdowns and subsequent performance errors, and discuss those with the team. When arriving at the competition site, entering the gym gymnasts had the layout on hand and felt very comfortable with the set up. In all those years, we never failed on our expected beam performance and never took a fall. I had programmed the team to expect to compete first on the beam despite the usual ‘hullabaloo’ that the competition order was drawn by ballot – it was ‘rigged’ because we always were competing on the beam first team throughout my entire years of coaching – too weird to be true! In those days, balance beam performances often indicated the winner because of the psychological pressure on the team members when starting with a performance deficit!
Sports are full of ‘ups and down!’ The best athletes, however, are mentally tough and seem to bounce back quickly after an off day in training or competition. According to Dr. Allan Goldberg (2005), a positive, more confident mind-set boosts ‘slumping’ athletes out of their ‘ruts’, and helps them to avoid performance lapses. Therefore, athletes need to develop practical mental strategies to perform more consistently to achieve their peak performance. As I have stated previously, this process needs to start with younger athletes to develop the understanding of such concepts and realize the importance of their mental training. As they are still at the developmental phase, obviously coaches have to scale down the teaching of mental concepts and positive strategies that are easily understood. Most younger age group athletes lack attention span, focus and concentration – often missing important instructions, according to my lengthy coaching experience. Therefore, specific mental strategies need to be included in the daily skill training to enhance these components.
Staying in Control Means Focusing on Yourself and No One Else
Having coached for many years, one usually encounters athletes who end up in a performance ‘plunge.’ There are numerous reasons this phenomenon occurs. Coaches have to identify the source and/or cause through strong personal interaction with the individual athlete[s]. It may not only be time consuming but also challenging personal emotions, patience, and understanding. As the German saying goes: having ‘Fingerspitzen Gefühl’ [insight].
Note: [Literal translation: ‘fingertips feeling’ because fingertips are very sensitive, yet very small parts of the human body: to have a ‘fingertips feeling’ implies understanding the finer details of a situation through heightened sensitivity]
Dr. Alan Goldberg (2005) provides the following recommendations for coaches:
Show empathy– put yourself into your athletes’ place and let them know that you understand their internal struggles.
Be supportive– build athletes' confidence and help develop self-esteem because the latter. The last thing slumping athletes need is for others to degrade them by putting them down.
Communicate clearly– directly and frequently. Let athletes know the way you feel about their struggles, and help then to overcome their problems.
Be positive and hopeful– help them believe that their lack of successful performance is only temporary and they will overcome their slump.
Help them deal constructively with any negative feedback– from friends and parents, and/or the media.
Help them maintain proper perspective– dealing with other people and also with their personal outlook in life.
Avoid
Reminding athletes how long they have been performing badly
Compare athletes’ past great performances with their present poor ones (unless using the past ones as a constructive model for the present)
Disparaging athletes with labels like ‘stupid head case, choker’ or ‘why in the hell did you do that?’
Penalizing athletes with giving them the ‘silent treatment’ or ignore them (very common)
Being negative
Focus athletes’ attention on everything else they are doing wrong. Instead help them focus on what they need correctly to improve.
Modified from Goldberg (2005). Sports slump busting. Ten steps to mental toughness and peak performance, p. 42.
Oliver Porier-Leroy (2017, p. 14) states that “goal setting is crucial to achieve one’s peak performance because properly outlined goals have several purposes.”
Athletes need to:
Put into words those aspects they want to achieve
Maintain their focus on those goals
Use goal sheets to stay motivated over the season
Reasons for Goal Setting
Athletes are more efficient with their time and energy
Having a clear goal boosts enthusiasm and motivation
The bigger the goal, the more likely athletes are putting more effort in their attempt
Goals are not accomplished by ‘accident’
Goals teach athletes to persist instead of ‘giving up too easily’
Goal setting is a ‘lifetime’ skill
Poirier-Leroy (2017, pp. 14-15) with modification by Dr. M. Schloder.
Note: To #3: However, goals must be reasonable and attainable… Otherwise, athletes set themselves up to under-achievement and potential failure (Schloder, 2020).
References:
Baum, K., & Trubo, R. (1999). The mental edge. Maximize your sports potential with the body-mind connection. New York: Perigee Books/Penguin Group.
Epstein, D. (2013). The sports gene. Inside the science of extraordinary athletic performance. New York: Penguin Books.
Goldberg, A. S. (2005). Sports slump busting. Ten steps to mental toughness and peak performance. Ocala, FL: Llumina Press.
Kubistant, T. (1986). Performing your best. A guide to psychological skills for high achievers. Champaign, IL: Life Enhancement/Division of Human Kinetics.
Mack G., & Casstevens, D. (2001). Mind gym. An athlete’s guide to inner excellence. New York: McGraw Hill.
Poirier-Leroy, O. (2017). Conquer the pool. The swimmer’s ultimate guide to a high performance mindset. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada: Lane 6 Publishing.
Porter, K. (2003). The mental athlete. Inner training for peak performance in all sports. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Schloder, M. E. (2020). Lecture Notes. Module: Basic mental skills. Psychology of performance. Canadian National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). Ottawa, ON: Canadian National Coaching Association.
Ungerleider, S. (2005). Mental training for peak performance. Top athletes reveal the mind exercises they use to excel. Emmaus, PA: Rodale.