Resilience, or “mental toughness,” is a crucial psychological aspect of sports. Bouncing back from a mediocre performance or a detrimental mistake is critical to an athlete’s success. As much as athletes hate to admit it, failure is a part of the game. A baseball player with a batting average of 3 has failed 7 times out of 10 at the plate. It is essential to recognize that mistakes and failures are part of the game (Halden-Brown, 2003). However, when an athlete places too much emphasis on his or her failures, performance begins to suffer.
Athletes must remain in the present moment and focus on the task. It is difficult to focus on the present when the mind is occupied with an error that occurred three plays ago.
So, the real question is: how can an athlete become resilient?
The most apparent method is not an easy one. An athlete must face and conquer adversity to cope with it in the future successfully. The saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” applies perfectly to an athlete coming off a lousy performance. Past mastery experiences boost self-confidence, which leads to excellent performance. An effective tool an athlete can use in practice or game setting is a trigger. A trigger word or action can help an athlete refocus and clear his or her mind quickly.
For example, a batter who swings at a pitch in the dirt can step out of the box and readjust his batting gloves. While adjusting the gloves, he lets go of the previous pitch and clears it from his mind. He thinks only of the oncoming pitch when he returns to the box.
The adjustment of the gloves is a physical trigger that represents releasing a past mistake and an action to refocus the mind. The athlete must consciously push all negative thoughts and feelings associated with the error out of his mind while adjusting those gloves. While difficult initially, the trigger action will elicit an immediate psychological response over time.
The ability to let go of mistakes is vital to a successful performance. The better an athlete can do this, the better equipped he will be to cope with trying situations in sport. Elite athletes possess a mental toughness that allows them to thrive off failure and relish success.
Coach Nye
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