MENTAL TRAINING
Most athletes tell me the psychological things account for at least 50% of whether they succeed or not.
Elite athletes, however, tell me that once an athlete has been training and competing for a substantial number of years, the non-psychological factors (e.g., training on the field,...) hardly ever improve their performance, but rather just maintain performance levels. Instead, elite athletes, tell me that psychological factors (e.g., how they have been feeling recently and on the competition day) have a far bigger impact on whether they succeed or not.
Most athletes tell me a number between 1-6 hours.
Most athletes tell me, "None. Zero minutes"!
So there is an obvious problem! Most athletes are training a substantial number of hours doing things they say have little impact on whether they succeed or not.
Said another way, they spend no time whatsoever on the thing they say has the biggest impact on whether they succeed or not.So after:
- Obtaining seven university qualifications, then
- 12 years improving my understanding of psychology as a research psychologist, and then
- 13 additional years training athletes, coaches, and administrators,
I locked myself in a hotel room in 2016 for 147 days (12 hours per day, 7 days per week, for 21 weeks) and created a state-of-the-art, highly impacting 66-session mental skills training programme. I then tested and refined the programme with various organisations (Afghanistan Cricket Board, Bangladesh Cricket Board, Zimbabwe Cricket Board, Boland Cricket Association, Eastern Province Cricket, Cricket Namibia, North West Cricket, Warriors,...). This 66-session programme utilises hour long sessions and 14,258 PowerPoint slides. It sets a foundation for more advanced mental skills training (in the field, while running with me, at supermarkets, in your home,...). The advanced sessions are usually conducted in 5-30 minute sessions and tend to be physical.
(Each Training Session = 1 hour)
CHANGE:
Session 1:Improving performance by increasing mental toughness and happiness
(and Paperclip 1)
Session 2:Why you resist change
Session 3:How people change
Session 4:First technique to overcome resistance to change
Session 5:Next 5 techniques to overcome resistance to change
Session 6:Last 3 techniques to overcome resistance to change
Session 7:How to increase happiness
NESTS:
Session 8:Health and NESTS
Session 9:Sleep
Session 10:How to improve sleep
Session 11:Social support
Session 12:How to improve social support
Session 13:Nutrition
Session 14:Exercise
MENTAL STRENGTH:
Session 15:There is no such thing as stress
Session 16:The fear response
Session 17:The long-term impact of cortisol
Session 18:Hardiness
Session 19:The importance of confidence
Session 20:How to increase confidence
Session 21:Mental toughness
TEAM LEGACY:
Session 22:Think big
Session 23:Principles of goal-setting, vision statements, and mission statements
Session 24:Athletes form small groups and brainstorm vision statement, mission statement, and values
Session 25:Athletes write and practice 2-minute speeches
Session 26:Question your values (Responsible, passion, and tolerance)
Session 27:More questioning of your values (Beauty, decency, and support)
Session 28:Final questioning of your values (Respect, restraint, and humanity)
Session 29:Athletes present 2-minute speeches
Session 30:Management team construct draft vision statement, mission statement, and values
Session 31:Management team construct vision statement, mission statement, and values
Session 32:Squad discuss and revise vision statement, mission statement, and values
Session 33:Squad discuss, revise, and agree on vision statement, mission statement, and values
POSITIVE FOCUS:
Session 34:Conscientiousness (and Paperclip 2)
Session 35:How to be more proactive
Session 36:Psychological flow
Session 37:Diaphragmatic breathing
Session 38:Progressive muscular relaxation
Session 39:Meditation
Session 40:Concentration (and Paperclip 3)
NOISE:
Session 41:Neuroticism
Session 42:Optimism
Session 43:Internal locus of control
Session 44:Self-esteem
Session 45:Extroversion
Session 46:NOISE sentence
Session 47:NOISE affirmation
PERFECT TEAMMATE:
Session 48:Ideal teammate features at individual training sessions and group training sessions
Session 49:Ideal teammate features before matches, during matches, and after matches
Session 50:Ideal teammate features away from the squad and away from sport
Session 51:Draft Ideal Teammate Statement
Session 52:Ideal Teammate Statement
ROUTINES:
Session 53:Rumination
Session 54:Thought Stoppage
Session 55:Mental imagery
Session 56:Mental imagery and individualised goal-setting
Session 57:Combining mental imagery with individualised goal-setting
Session 58:Thriving Habit
Session 59:Routines (and Paperclip 4)
CHOICES:
Session 60:How external factors make bad choices likely
Session 61:How we create our own bad choices
Session 62:Techniques to help you make good choices
Session 63:More techniques to help you make good choices
Session 64:Final set of techniques to help you make good choices
Session 65:Core beliefs and automatic thoughts
Session 66:Automatic thoughts change record
- Intense
- Comprehensive
- Impacting
- Utilise a professional tone balanced with fun and humour
Most sessions are conducted on a personal one-on-one basis, but there are 17 group sessions that involve all the athletes and coaching staff (12 TEAM LEGACY sessions, 5 PERFECT TEAMMATE sessions). Usually once all 66 sessions have been conducted, I then work with the athlete in the gym, on the field, with physiotherapists, when running, at the supermarket, etc. These advanced sessions tend to be 5-30 minutes in duration, build on what has been learnt in the 66 sessions, and are usually physical in nature. Ideally, I also teach my athletes many fitness and philosophical aspects from three styles of kung-fu (Ba Qua Chuan, Hsing-I Chuan, Tai Chi Chuan), as a vital advanced way to develop mental toughness. I have also found that many athletes want to do all, or several of the 66 sessions all over again, as there is so much information to learn, think about, and then implement.
I use an educational approach. I will teach you very useful research findings and highly effective techniques. I don’t need to know about any of your problems and weaknesses. In fact, I don’t want to know about your problems. That’s correct, I don’t want to know about your problems. That probably surprises you, as you may have the idea that all I do is help with peoples’ problems. However, I have found that everyone has problems, almost everyone knows the solutions for their problems, but usually they don’t want to change. So I have no interest listening to someone talk about how tough their life is, if they don’t want to change. If you truly want to remove your problems and think I can help, then I am more than willing to help you, but if you are not ready to change, let alone admit your failings, then I don’t need to know anything about you. I will help you become a more successful athlete, coach, staff member, and/or administrator by helping you become mentally tougher and happier. To do that, I don’t need to know anything about you. Hence, I don’t usually use a counselling or therapy approach. Think of me, instead, as a Personal Trainer for your Brain!
Most sessions are conducted on a private, one-on-one basis. So I will tailor the sessions to your language ability and education level. I have successfully trained a large number of athletes and coaches who do not speak, read, or understand English well. Many have initially been scared to come see me because of their lack of English. I have also trained a lot of athletes and coaches who have little interest in education. It’s my job to show you how directly relevant psychology is to your sporting and non-sporting life, so you want to learn more. I have also trained my fair share of highly educated athletes, coaches, staff, and administrators. For instance, some athletes have also been dentists and lawyers and many administrators have obtained MBAs. So I have trained them using words and concepts that others may find difficult. Oftentimes it is essential to use such complex words and concepts with them, so that they are challenged sufficiently and grow as people.
At the end of the day, it’s all about respect, desire to excel, and courage. I have to respect my clients. I have to understand where my client is coming from and understand that they are probably initially scared to come see me. So I do my best to make the sessions as simple, practical, and non-threatening as possible. My potential clients, however, have to have a desire to want to become a better version of who they are. There has to be some internal hunger to do better. Second, clients need some courage. They need to be willing to get out of their comfort zone to train mentally. This applies to all four groups of clients I train and not just athletes. For instance, coaches may be outstanding tacticians and technicians, staff may be excellent service providers, and administrators may be brilliant planners, but all four groups aren’t usually trained in sport psychology. And almost certainly they (and you) haven’t been trained using an intense, comprehensive, and impacting sport psychology approach like what I use.
You will find the sessions easier than you imagined. One reason for this is that I will make a substantial effort to ensure that the sessions are simple and practical. For instance, during the two sessions on CONFIDENCE, you will learn that there are 6 things that have a massive impact on whether you (and others) are confident. However, the cool part, is that I will teach these in a way that’s very easy to remember. For instance, 4 of the keys are summarised with my acronym GOAT (Growth mind-set, Observe, Act, Trust yourself) and 2 of them, that you should NOT do, are summarised with my acronym POT (Perfectionism, Over-Thinking):
To increase confidence use GOAT:
To increase confidence don’t do POT:
Likewise, during the session on CONCENTRATION, you will learn 5 keys to increasing concentration with my acronym TRIPE (Turn concentration on and off, Regularly meditate, Ignore irrelevant stimuli, Positive thinking, Environment [design your own]):
Not only do clients get training with the 14,258 PowerPoint slides, but they are also provided 29+ Education Handouts that they can refer to in the future. The handouts focus on the topics in the Mental Skills Training programme.
