Mental Skills Training – Fad or Future?

Written by: Allison Meyers, Psy.D., LP., MGCP

NBA star Lebron James, elite U.S. Soccer player Carli Lloyd, and U.S. Olympic Swimming legend Michael Phelps have all been open about enhancing their performance with mental skills training. Physically, these athletes are dominant yet sought the help of Sports Psychologists and Mental Performance Coaches to further their competitiveness. In recent years, collegiate athletic programs have been adding Sports Psychologists or Mental Performance Consultants to their faculty or contract with specialists to assist their athletes in mental skills training, despite no requirement set by the NCAA. The American Psychological Association (APA) established its Sports Psychology division, officially known as Division 47, in 1986. Since then, research and interest have grown in using mental skills training to enhance athletic performance.

While still a foreign concept for some, typically we see significant interest in utilizing some components of mental game skills from coaches and athletes alike. Coaches often express concern for their athletes in areas such as composure, consistency, confidence, and letting go of mistakes. While our work extends beyond these growth areas, mental performance coaching addresses all of them.

Most competitive programs, even into youth programming, incorporate some form of mental skills into their training, either informally or formally by hiring Performance Coaches. We are seeing increased interest at the recreation level as well. Not only can this training improve performance on the playing surface, but it can also make the sport more enjoyable. Mental skills training appears to be here to stay and likely will continue to grow across levels, it’s not just for the pros anymore.