MIND SKILLS

1. Attitude

• Realize that attitude is a choice.

• Choose an attitude that is predominately positive.

• View your performance as an opportunity to compete against yourself and learn from your successes and failures.

• Pursue excellence, not perfection, and realize you are not perfect.

• Maintain balance and perspective between performance and the rest of your life.

• Respect other participants, coaches, officials, and yourself.

 

2. Motivation

• Be aware of the rewards and benefits that you expect to experience through your participation.

• Persist through difficult tasks and difficult times, even when these rewards and benefits are not immediately forthcoming.

• Realize that many of the benefits come from your participation, not the outcome.

 

3. Goals and Commitment Levels

• Set long-term and short-term goals that are realistic, measurable, and time-oriented.

• Be aware of your current performance levels and develop specific, detailed plans for attaining your goals.

• Commit to your goals and carry them out on the daily demands of your programs.

 

4. People Skills

• Realize that they are part of a larger system that includes your families, friends, teammates, coaches, and others.

• When appropriate, communicate your thoughts, feelings, and needs to these people and listen to them as well.

• Learn effective skills for dealing with conflict, difficult opponents, and other people when they are negative or oppositional.

 

5. Self-Talk

• Maintain your self-confidence during difficult times with realistic, positive self-talk.

• Talk to yourself the way they would talk to your own best friend

• Use self-talk to regulate thoughts, feelings and behaviours during your workouts and in daily life.

 

6. Mental Imagery

• Prepare yourself for workouts by imagining yourself performing well.

• Create and use mental images that are detailed, specific, and realistic.

• Use imagery during your workouts to prepare for action and recover from errors and poor performances.

 

7. Dealing Effectively with Anxiety

• Accept anxiety as part of your performance.

• Realize that some degree of anxiety can help you perform well.

• Know how to reduce anxiety when it becomes too strong, without losing your intensity.

 

8. Dealing Effectively with Emotions

• Accept strong emotions such as excitement, anger, and disappointment as part of your experience.

• Use these emotions to improve, rather than interfere with your performance.

 

9. Concentration

• Know what you must pay attention to during each performance situation.

• Learn how to maintain focus and resist distractions, whether they come from the environment or from within yourself.

• Be able to regain your focus when concentration is lost during performance.

• Learn how to perform in the “here-and-now”, without regard to either past or anticipated future events.