Mental performance training is one of the fastest-growing areas in sport, but it's also one of the most misunderstood. Many families hear the phrase "mental performance" and wonder:
- Is this therapy?
- Is this sports psychology?
- Is this just positive thinking?
- Is this only for athletes who are struggling?
The short answer? No.
Have you ever dreaded a conversation or situation you anticipated would be tough? Have you ever walked away wishing you'd handled it differently, thought of something to say, or been brave enough to do something? In a nutshell, mental performance training teaches the skills and tools needed to prepare for, navigate, and recover from difficult situations. It's the intentional practice of the mental skills that help athletes perform, learn, and compete more effectively under pressure, and those skills transfer far beyond the court or field into academics, relationships, and much more.
Mental performance training is NOT:
- Therapy
- Motivation
- Positive thinking
- Sports hypnosis
- Fixing athletes
- Pretending difficult emotions don't exist
- Telling athletes to "just be confident"
Mental performance training isn't about changing who athletes are. It's about helping them develop skills that let them access their abilities more consistently, especially under pressure. It involves learning and practicing skills such as confidence, focus, emotional regulation, mistake recovery, self-awareness, composure, decision-making, resilience, trust, and attention control. Just as athletes train physical skills through physical repetition, mental skills are developed through intentional practice.
It helps athletes answer questions like:
- How do I trust myself when the pressure gets high?
- How do I recover after making a mistake?
- How do I stop overthinking?
- How do I compete aggressively instead of cautiously?
- How do I handle criticism?
- How do I believe in myself when things aren't going well?
- How do I do hard things when they're uncomfortable?
If these questions sound familiar, you are not alone.
"She dreaded going to practices and to tournaments and was ready to stop playing altogether, even though she loved the game. So many tears and so much frustration after each practice, to the point of crying and throwing her shoes or her bag. And heartbreak for us, because we couldn't talk to her about anything or she would become more frustrated."
"We watched her confidence slowly fade, and she began second-guessing almost everything she did. As a mom, it was incredibly hard to see her not performing to the best of her ability, and I constantly found myself trying to build her back up. We knew she had the talent and drive, but mentally, she was struggling to believe in herself."
The answer wasn't that these athletes lacked talent, motivation, or work ethic. They simply lacked some of the mental skills needed to access their abilities consistently under pressure. That's what mental performance training is designed to address. The goal isn't to create perfect athletes. The goal is to help athletes build the skills to trust themselves when things get hard.
Is this therapy?
Therapy and mental performance training are both valuable, but they serve different purposes. Therapy often helps athletes heal, process experiences, understand emotions, and recover from challenges. Mental performance training focuses on helping athletes build, practice, prepare, and perform. One is not better than the other. In many cases, athletes benefit from both.
Mental performance training is not about diagnosing or treating mental health conditions. It's about helping athletes respond more effectively to the inevitable challenges of competition: pressure, mistakes, failure, uncertainty, expectations, adversity, and growth.
Questions to consider
For parents:
- What situations seem to affect your athlete most?
- When does your athlete appear most confident?
- How do you typically respond after difficult performances?
- What skills do you wish your athlete had access to when pressure rises?
For athletes:
- When do you compete most freely?
- When do you feel the most pressure?
- What thoughts show up when things don't go well?
- What would change if you trusted yourself more?