As an athlete, you need to be skilled physically as well as mentally. While a lot of work is put into developing physical skills, it’s easy to overlook the mental side of the game. That’s where mental performance coaching comes into play.

In this article, we’re going to talk about what mental performance coaching is, the benefits it will have on your game, and exactly how the process works.

Mental Performance Coaching Defined

Mental performance coaching involves working one-on-one with a coach to overcome mental game challenges and build the mental skills you need to succeed.

In sports, a tremendous amount of effort is put into developing physical skills. Time is spent fine tuning mechanics and being sure all the fundamentals have been ingrained in muscle memory.

But what about the ability to bounce back from failure?

What about having the strength to manage high expectations, perform well under pressure, and cope with fear and anxiety?

Often these areas are overlooked…at least until challenges begin to present themselves.

The aim of a mental coach is to help you understand and manage yourself better. This includes your thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

Through being able to control yourself and your mind, you will then allow the physical talents you’ve worked so hard to develop to shine through during competition.

Benefits of a Mental Coach for Athletes

Working with a mental performance coach will provide you with many benefits. All of which will directly impact your production on the field or court.

Once you begin to consistently work on your mental game, here are some of the main benefits of mental performance coaching:

• Greater Confidence
• Increased Focus
• More Resilience (the ability to bounce back from failure)
• Decreased Anxiety
• Increased Motivation
• Positive Self-Talk
• Stronger Mental Toughness

Imagine gaining all of these skills. How much better would your performances be?

But we don’t have to even start with all of them…what about gaining just one of these benefits?

Let’s say confidence, for example.

How much would your game change if you truly believed in yourself and your skills? Would you play more freely? Would you enjoy the game a little bit more?

What about fears and anxieties? Do you think you’d be as worried if you had the confidence in yourself that you were capable of success?

That is what can happen once you begin working on your mental game.

How Mental Performance Coaching Works

Mental performance coaching is a process. It’s not something you do one day and then suddenly adopt all the mental skills you need as an athlete.

Just like training your physical skills, when working on your mental game you need consistency.

Once you decide to work with a mental coach, you will first take an assessment.

This is to see where your mindset stands currently, and the main mental game challenges that are keeping you from performing up to your potential.

From there, you will begin weekly sessions where you meet for an hour. During these calls, you and your mental game coach will begin working on developing your mental skills.

This is guided by a custom mental game plan made specifically for you.

Now here’s one of the most important pieces: the weekly action steps.

Each week, after your session, you will be given action steps to complete. These will include exercises, reading assignments, and activities for you to perform that will begin making the change happen.

Through this consistent work, all the benefits outlined above can be developed.

Getting Started with Mental Performance Coaching

The mental game is a key piece to athletic success, which is why mental performance coaching is so valuable.

Here at Success Starts Within, we offer a 12-week coaching program that will take you through the process outlined above.

If you’re ready to take your game to the next level, please fill out the form below to learn more about one-on-one mental performance coaching. Or you can click here to schedule a free introductory coaching session.