What is mental preparation in sport

There are times in life when it pays to be organised. To some this might mean having the right sports gear, to others it might be about attending the right training camp, while simply to sum it’s as significant as working with a nutritionist to ensure a well-balanced diet. For athletes, being organised applies to everything, especially mental preparation. Sport psychology helps improve preparation.

While of course an athlete can’t perform without adequately training, since it demands them to be in peak physical condition, it’s also true that they need to be in the right frame of mind.

Here we look at why this is so important, and how it can be achieved.

Why Prepare?

Preparation is everything, as they say. Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail.  There are many reasons why it’s valuable for an athlete to give due consideration to preparation ahead of a game, such as:

In the zone

Many athletes talk about getting in the zone, just watch BBC Sports for half an hour and an athlete is bound to come on and make the statement! But it’s not just a buzzword, it’s a fact.

Getting in the zone mentally before a big game will give you a real advantage. It will help you focus and better perform, as well as block out distractions.

If you don’t already have a pre-game routine, then now’s the time to sit down with your sports coach and put one together.

Motivation

No matter how skilled an athlete, motivation is an issue that crops up from time to time. However, having a plan in place and goals to achieve will help you face the day with new excitement. It’s important to think ahead so that motivation doesn’t wane.

Concentration

If it’s all about focus, then having a plan in place is the best way to achieve this. Knowing that you have a strategy and understanding the steps involved is a sure-fire way to keep your eyes on the prize.

Emotions

It can be easy to lose control of your emotions in sport. But, good preparation will equip you with the right skills in place to be able to better deal with them. With good planning, you will be able to anticipate the issues that lie ahead, which in turn prepare you better for dealing with any eventuality.

Arousal

On a similar note, forward planning can help reduce arousal levels. If you have a plan of action for managing your thoughts and behaviours, it will be one less thing to worry about.

Confidence

Feeling confident and assured is a by-product of being prepared. As any sports coach will tell you, maintaining a positive composure is important in this game, and self-belief plays a large part of this. Give yourself the best shot of success, by being well prepared for every eventuality and see how it can boost your confidence.

How To Prepare?

So, we know that preparation is important, so what steps can we do in order to prepare? Let’s take a look at some of these techniques in greater detail:

Thought management

One of the main focus of sports psychology is to look at how our thoughts shape our actions, and how we can better manage these.

Working with your sports coach in daily sport training, it’s important to devise a way of managing emotions and thoughts. Take the opportunity to talk through issues, and mental blocks, as a way to overcome them. Mention negative as well as positive thoughts. Communication is cathartic and can help overcome a number of issues and may even boost your confidence.

Imaging

A technique used in sports of all kinds, imaging is the role of positively visualising the journey to success. It goes beyond the glory of winning, and forces you to rehearse and think the steps required to get there. It’s a powerful tool that is used by athletes everywhere, especially ahead of a big game.

Make time in your training programme to set aside time to improve your imagery technique, allowing yourself to develop this utilising all your sense. It is something that can only improve over time.

Deep breathing

Mental preparation is about controlling inside thoughts. A tried and tested technique is deep breathing, or guided breathing. This can take a number of weeks to master, but it forces your body and mind to come together. The deep breaths in expand your lungs, filling you with oxygen while mentally you’re helping yourself to calm down.

This will also prove useful ahead of events and times of stress when your physical and psychological arousal needs managing.

Some people chose to use guided recordings to help them through this process – it’s a case of whatever works for you best.

Have a playlist

Music has the power to inspire, motivate and reframe the way you think. It’s no surprise therefore that many professional athletes adopt a preferred music playlist to apply to every part of sport. From core training to event performance. Much like all factors in sport, your playlist should be personal to you, as long as it evokes positive thoughts and puts you in a happy frame of mind.

Goal setting

Working with your sports coach, you should already have established a framework for success in your training programme. Be it performance, process or outcomes, think about the short, medium and long-term goals you need to set in order to achieve these.

In the ever-competitive world of amateur or elite sport, mental preparation is crucial for long-term success. It forces you to think ahead and plan, as well as think about the areas that influence and support your wellbeing.

If you’re able to think ahead and plan in advance, this is a great way to give yourself the best chance of success to achieve your goals.

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Related Articles from Sport Resilience:

• Imagery
• Pre-Performance Routines
• Relaxation
• Goal-Setting
• Self-Talk

Do you know that the warm up routine is also a time to become mentally prepared for the game?

What mental game strategies help you get mentally ready before a game?

When I ask my athletes: what’s your pregame routine? Most will answer this by describing their physical warm up.

In today’s sports insights, you’ll learn the top mental game skills to use in your warm up routine prior to competition…

Also, keep in mind that the warm up routine is not a time to practice your skills. Your skills are already set that day–the goal is to prepare to get the most out of your game.

Pregame anxiety is a major obstacle to a relaxed and effortless performance for athletes.

This is where a pregame warm up routine can help you relax, focus, and be confident for competition.

I work with athletes every day to help them prepare a pregame routine so that they can perform well in competition.

(I also created The Relaxed Athlete workbook and CD program to help you do this as well.)

Here’s the purpose of your warm up or mental prep routine:

• Feel poised and relaxed about an upcoming competition.
• Feel confident in your skill at the start of competition.
• Enjoy competing and overcome pregame jitters.
• Trust in your skills you have trained in practice.

6 Steps for Pregame Mental Preparation:

1. Transition from life to sports and enter the role of the athlete. Focus only on the role of athlete and park any worries from life.
2. Discard outcome expectations or strict demands. Let go of the expectations you feel to be perfect or win.
3. Be proactive with confidence prior to competition. Take full control of your confidence level before the start.
4. Focus on execution or the process and not results. Stay into the moment and don’t think too far ahead.
5. Rehearse your performance and game plan. Visualize how you want to perform and execute you game or race plan.
6. Prepare your mind and body to trust in your skills. Get ready to become a performer and stop practicing so you can get into the zone.

Do you want to learn all my mental game strategies to help you mentally prepare and relax before competition?

Check out The Relaxed Athlete Today…

Check out our video on Pregame Mental Strategies

Improve Pregame Mental Preparation!

Do you become too tight to perform your best because you worry about embarrassing yourself or making mistakes in the game?

Do you have trouble sleeping the night before competition, cant eat before you compete, or are so anxious and tense stepping onto the field, court, course, or track that you are already tired or spent before competition starts?

Check out The Relaxed Athlete!

The Relaxed Athlete CD and workbook program is a 14-day plan for optimal mental preparation. This program is ideal for any athlete that wants to overcome pregame anxiety, worry, or excess tension and learn to perform with poise.

Learn more about one of our most popular CD programs in The Confident Athlete Series…

The Relaxed Athlete: A 14-Day Plan For Optimal Mental Preparation

What are customers saying?

“Patrick, with your great instruction on the mental game, I had the best nationals I have ever had. And even more important, I got through the five days relaxed and had fun – a new concept in my life! The bottom line – I got five firsts and one second! Thank you!  You are just what I needed.”
~Dennis O’Brien, Swimmer

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This workbook series was designed for coaches and mental coaches to use with their athletes.

The Athlete’s Mental Edge workbooks complement your existing mental training program. Each of the 15 workbooks in the Athlete’s Mental Edge System teaches your athletes a specific mental skill to improve their performance.

For mental coaches, this system is ideal for between session education.

For sports coaches, you’ll be able to conduct 15 team seminars using the workbook system.

In the Athlete’s Mental Edge workbook system, you receive 15 easy-to-read, practical Mental Edge Workbooks on PDF, as well as 16 coaches’ game plan MP3 audio files.

Athlete’s Mental Edge Workbook System

What are coaches saying?

“I’ll start by saying that the Mental Edge Workbook program is awesome. It put all the pieces together for my mental work with soccer players.”
~Eitan Azaria, Mental Coach for Soccer

Boost Your Self-Confidence And Focus With Expert Mental Game Coaching!

Master mental game coach Dr. Patrick Cohn can help you overcome your mental game issues with personal coaching.

You can work with Dr. Patrick Cohn himself in Orlando, Florida or via Skype, FaceTime, or telephone. Call us toll free at 888-742-7225 or contact us for more information about the different coaching programs we offer!

What are our students saying?

“After going through a week of practice using your pre-kick routine, I was perfect on three field goals on a muddy field and a windy day in my final college game. Now I am entertaining the idea of trying to enter the professional ranks. Thank you for your help!”
~Nate Littlefield, Collegiate Kicker