Sports Performance Psychology can be a powerful and effective way to improve athletic performance and increase motivation and enjoyment. It can also provide significant improvements in cognition that carry over outside the field of play. Sports psychology has been proven to work, and while it is always uniquely tailored to the individual, this post goes over the formal protocol that I usually follow, ending with an example of how a sports performance psychologist like me might use techniques to build mental toughness in athletes that carries over into other aspects of their lives.
What is a Sports Performance Psychologist?
A sports performance psychologist is a highly trained professional who specializes in applying psychological principles and techniques to help athletes improve their mental and emotional well-being and performance in sports. I work with athletes of all levels—from amateurs to elite professionals—focusing on enhancing the psychological factors contributing to athletic performance, such as enhancing mental toughness in athletes.
Key Areas of Focus:
- Skills Training: A sports performance psychologist helps athletes develop mental skills like focus, confidence, relaxation, and visualization, which can improve athletic performance.
- Athletic Performance Anxiety: We assist athletes in managing nerves and stress before, during, and after competition. Techniques like mindfulness and relaxation exercises are often used.
- Motivation: We work with athletes to increase motivation, whether intrinsic (self-driven) or extrinsic (external rewards), and help set realistic goals for improvement.
- Mental Toughness in Athletes: A sports performance psychologist helps athletes develop strategies for staying calm and focused in high-pressure situations, such as crucial moments of a game or other athletic performance.
- Injury Recovery: We support athletes emotionally and mentally during injury recovery, helping with the mental challenges of rehabilitation, such as fear of re-injury, loss of confidence, and frustration.
- Team Dynamics: We may work with teams to enhance communication, resolve conflicts, and foster a positive team culture.
- Confidence Building: A sports performance psychologist helps athletes overcome self-doubt, build mental resilience, and strengthen their belief in their abilities.
- Mind-Body Connection: We emphasize the link between mental well-being and athletic performance, showing athletes how to use their minds to control physical reactions and improve athletic outcomes.
Sports Performance Psychology Methods and Techniques:
A sports performance psychologist often braids together some of the following techniques:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Used to address negative thoughts and beliefs that may affect athletic performance.
- Visualization/Imagery: Athletes imagine performing successfully to boost confidence and mental readiness.
- Relaxation Techniques: Deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or meditation help reduce stress and anxiety.
- Goal Setting: Setting specific, measurable, and achievable goals helps athletes stay focused and motivated.
- Self-Talk Training: Building mental toughness in athletes involves helping them control and guide their inner dialogue to stay positive and focused.
When Athletes Work with a Sports Performance Psychologist:
There are many reasons why an athlete may look to the services of a sports performance psychologist, including:
- To improve focus and concentration during competition.
- When they feel anxiety or stress, it interferes with their performance.
- To work through slumps or athletic performance plateaus.
- To overcome performance fears (e.g., fear of failure or fear of injury).
- When facing challenges like team conflict or transition phases (e.g., moving from amateur to professional levels).
In summary, a sports performance psychologist helps athletes optimize their mental game, enhancing their overall performance and well-being. We play a key role in the athlete’s journey by supporting mental health, managing stress, and building resilience and mental toughness in athletes. These factors contribute to success on and off the field.
Sports Performance Psychology Process
The following is the general process for sports performance psychology work.
- Collecting History
I start by taking a history in the sport of choice:
- How long have they been playing, and when do they play best? What have been the athletic performance highlights and the opposite?
- When was their best game or performance? Their worst? When did they experience “Athletic Flow“?
- What logistics led to that event regarding sleep, diet, practices, etc.?
- How confident did the athlete feel right before the performance and leading up to it? What anxieties were there?
- What were they thinking about during the athletic performance? How would an observer have described their behavior?
- What did coaches say or do?
- Outside of sports, how was s/he feeling emotionally during that time?
Overall, I’m looking for the trajectory of the athlete’s career so far – when (and if possible, why) have there been jumps or drops in performance? It’s important to know where things are and how they got there.
Then, I look beyond sports and get a more general developmental history of the athlete in areas such as school, social life, and home. As mentioned, effective sports performance psychology therapy can positively impact other areas, and the converse is also true – happiness and contentment outside of athletics can help performance.
- Sports Performance Psychology Plan
After collecting the history, we will build the sports performance psychology plan. What might peak performance look like? How are things going now? What goals has the athlete set for performance, and what timelines are in place? As with history, I also look at other areas where performance is important. For high school and college athletes, how is school going? How is s/he feeling socially? What other activities are there, and how are they going?
Next, we begin to piece together the story of the student athlete’s journey so far in a way that emphasizes the positive and hopeful aspects of what the future could bring. We have explored the past and present, and the next step moves to the future. I carefully combine objective and subjective data to craft the plan. We must come to some highly tangible and measurable data points to tell what is working. It is also important for the athlete to see clear improvement that enhances mental toughness in athletes. I also pay close attention to improvements in less measurable areas, such as confidence, enjoyment, and motivation. These factors carry over outside of sports.
If you think it would be helpful, I can also connect with coaches and teachers during this phase. They may have insights or ideas that would be helpful. This might also help us understand the coach or teacher’s style and approach, which could guide the plan.
- Sports Performance Psychology Treatment
After collecting information and building a treatment plan, it is time for the actual sports performance psychology therapy to begin. I teach many different techniques designed to help the athlete perform their best. These techniques include:
- Goal setting: Helping athletes set realistic and achievable performance goals.
- Visualization: Teaching athletes to rehearse their actions and performance mentally.
- Self-talk: Encouraging positive self-talk and managing negative thoughts in key to building mental toughness in athletes.
- Concentration and focus: Enhancing an athlete’s ability to concentrate during competition.
- Stress management: Teaching strategies to cope with performance anxiety and pressure.
- Emotional control: Helping athletes manage their emotions, such as anger or frustration, during competition.
- Motivation: Maintaining and boosting an athlete’s motivation and commitment to training and competition.
The type and combination of techniques used will depend on what the athlete prefers and thinks will work and what I believe is the best fit, given my experience. This planning is always done in collaboration with you!
- Sports Performance Psychology Homework
Often, during this phase, we might give a homework assignment related to an upcoming competition – what we want the athlete to remember about what they were thinking or feeling during certain phases of competition, for example. After a while, this homework shifts into how the athlete will use techniques learned in sessions during competition. As time passes, therapy changes and evolves as the athlete sees improvement or gets stuck.
We will often add new goals to replace those that were reached. Eventually, therapy may move to less often or as needed. Still, usually, top athletes maintain contact and connection with a psychologist throughout their career, especially after they see the power and effectiveness of sports performance psychology!
Out treatment together may involve reviewing film or a live broadcast, 24/7 phone support when needed for a boost before an athletic competition, and 24/7 phone support after a competition should there be aspects of the competition that would best be discussed as soon as possible.
- Enhanced Services
Like all my clinical specialties, sports performance psychology can include help outside the scheduled weekly sessions. If you feel it would help, we can plan to connect right before a competition to go over the techniques you’ve learned and how to institute them most effectively at the moment. We can also connect right afterward if it would be helpful to go over things before you forget some of the details of your thoughts and feelings during the competition.
Our extra work might include looking at film or connecting with coaches, and can also be combined with my college admissions services if you are in high school and hope to be a student-athlete. We might also use one of the many sports performance improvement technological innovations available.
Case Example: Building Mental Toughness in Athletes
A sports performance psychologist often works on building mental toughness in athletes, focusing on both the physical and psychological demands they face in their sport and their personal lives. Building mental toughness in athletes is crucial for overcoming obstacles, maintaining focus under pressure, and bouncing back from setbacks. Here’s a case example of how a sports performance psychologist like me might build mental toughness in a college student-athlete:
Athlete Background:
Sarah is a sophomore who is a sprinter and has recently struggled with consistency in her performances. While she’s talented and has the physical capability, she struggles with self-doubt and anxiety, especially when the stakes are high. She tends to get frustrated after setbacks, affecting her motivation and focus for future events.
Sports Performance Psychology Techniques
- Building Confidence Through Self-Talk:
- Athletic Performance Issue: Sarah’s self-doubt tends to undermine her confidence during high-pressure situations.
- Intervention:
- Teach Sarah the power of positive self-talk to combat negative thoughts. Help her create a set of affirmations like “I am strong,” “I am prepared,” or “I am capable of handling challenges.”
- Incorporate visualization exercises where Sarah imagines herself succeeding and handling adversity with confidence.
- Encourage her to reframe failure as a learning opportunity rather than a reflection of her ability.
- Emotional Regulation & Focus:
- Issue: Sarah struggles with controlling emotions when things aren’t going her way, causing her to lose focus in races.
- Intervention:
- Introduce mindfulness exercises like meditation and breathing techniques to help her manage anxiety and stay present during competition.
- Practice mindfulness under controlled conditions in training so she can apply it in high-pressure situations.
- Develop strategies for Sarah to refocus quickly after a mistake (e.g., focus on one breath, reset, and keep going).
- Goal Setting and Resilience:
- Issue: Sarah feels discouraged when her results don’t match her expectations, causing a dip in her motivation.
- Intervention:
- Help Sarah break down her long-term goals into smaller, more manageable milestones. For example, setting personal bests, improving specific skills, or mental markers like staying calm during competition.
- Teach Sarah how to bounce back from setbacks by framing challenges as part of her growth journey.
- Use journaling to track progress, reflect on lessons from difficult situations, and celebrate incremental achievements.
- Building a Support System:
- Issue: Sarah’s isolation during tough times can increase her feelings of pressure.
- Intervention:
- Encourage Sarah to develop strong relationships with teammates and coaches where she feels comfortable expressing concerns and seeking support.
- Provide tools for constructive feedback so that Sarah feels supported rather than criticized when addressing her performance.
- Help her understand the importance of balance, advocating for self-care and finding time to rest mentally and physically.
- Preparation and Focus During Training:
- Issue: Sarah’s focus during training can sometimes be inconsistent, affecting her progress.
- Intervention:
- Help Sarah implement pre-performance routines (like listening to motivating music or reviewing her goals) to get into the right mindset.
- Create a structured training plan that includes both physical and mental components, like mental rehearsals or reflective practice sessions after each workout.
- Emphasize the value of consistency in mental preparation—Sarah should treat every training session as an opportunity to build mental toughness, not just physical strength.
- Sports Performance Psychology Visualization Techniques:
- Issue: Sarah struggles with anxiety and nerves before big races, often imagining negative outcomes.
- Intervention:
- Introduce Sarah to visualization techniques where she mentally rehearses her race, focusing on executing every part of her technique smoothly and confidently.
- Encourage her to visualize success regularly, including the feeling of crossing the finish line strong, maintaining her form, and overcoming difficult moments.
Mental Toughness in Athletes Implementation Plan:
- Weekly Mental Skills Training: Sarah will meet with me weekly to work on these areas, such as reframing negative thoughts and practicing mindfulness.
- Athletic Performance Journaling & Reflection: Sarah will start journaling after every race and practice to reflect on how she handled emotions, setbacks, and successes. She will note specific areas to work on.
- Group Training Sessions: Occasionally, she will participate in group activities with teammates where they practice mental skills together, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared learning.
- Continuous Check-ins with Coaches: Regular feedback from her coach will ensure alignment with her goals and mental approach, giving her tangible steps to work on during practices and competitions.
Athletic Performance Results:
The following are the sports psychotherapy outcomes for Sarah
- Confidence Growth: Over time, Sarah will likely notice a boost in her self-confidence, especially when faced with challenges, as she learns to use positive self-talk and visualization techniques.
- Improved Focus: By developing mindfulness and emotional regulation skills, Sarah should be able to stay focused and maintain composure during competition, no matter the pressure.
- Increased Resilience: With clear goals and a better understanding of setbacks as learning opportunities, Sarah will be more resilient when things don’t go as planned and stay motivated to keep improving.
Mental toughness in athletes is a vital skill that can be developed through focused practice and learning. For a college student-athlete like Sarah, building mental toughness is not just about pushing through physical limits but developing the mental resilience to handle challenges, stay focused, and maintain a positive mindset no matter the circumstance.
Summary and My Work
The methods I use with athletes and coaches are well-established and proven scientifically through well-run research. There should be meaningful and measurable changes in performance and related changes in motivation and enjoyment. We will set specific goals and realistic timelines that enable us to assess the effectiveness of each intervention as we go. Sports performance psychology treatment can be valuable for athletes and teams seeking a competitive edge. You can read an example of Sports Psychotherapy and some athletic performance improvement self-help strategies on my blog.
Sports Performance Psychology for Teams
I can also provide services such as building mental toughness in athletes for teams, using many of the same techniques, and working on team chemistry, communication, and roles. In these cases, coaches play an integral role in the design and implementation of the work. These services can be delivered to teams who play a team sport and individuals who compete as part of a team but in individual events. Often, the homework given to team sports participants involves doing something together.
Athletic Performance Improvement Plans
My work as a sports performance psychologist is individually tailored to the athlete, the sport, and the current level of athletic performance. We can also decide on the frequency we will meet, the likely duration of services, and whether any general therapy services will be mixed in. I would be happy to talk to you about your goals and what therapy might consist of. For more information about sports performance psychology and to sign up for a free consultation, visit my Sports Psychology Specialty page.
