While genetics has shown to play a role in athletic ability, psychological factors
should not be discounted. Grit, optimism, resilience, and perseverance are just a
few factors that separate elite athletes from non-elite athletes. In sport, perhaps
the most defying characteristic of an elite athlete is their level of mental toughness.
Mental toughness refers to an athlete’s ability to persist in the face of challenges,
mistakes, and failure. In sport, mental toughness is necessary in order to play at
the elite level; factors influencing the extent, include self-determined motivation,
environmental and surrounding factors, along with other personal forces such as persistence
and optimistic thinking. These factors that drive the scale of mental toughness must
be taught in a positive manner by coaches beginning at a young age to help fully develop
young athletes.
Mental toughness (MT) has been positively influential to success in athletes and also
has promoted adaptive mental health functioning, well-being, and incidents of lower
stress levels, depression, and an increase in the quality of sleep (Cowden et al.,
2019). When evaluating athletes, most non-elite players only mentally train themselves
when they’re in a negative state of mind, however, implementing mental training into
day-to-day life can be beneficial. Cowden et al. (2019) focused on the key characteristics
of MT as self-determined motivation in addition to a sense of perfectionism. The review
implies that athletes who have higher personal standards of perfectionism, sustain
more autonomous forms of motivation due to the efforts they face to develop mental
toughness. The self determination theory concerns human motivation and a personality
that relates to ones inherent growth tendencies as well as the psychological needs,
without the concern of external influences. The theory has been applied to the study
of perfectionism and shows that motivation is represented by the continuum of motivational
subtypes (Cowden et al., 2019). These subtypes reflect the extent to which internalization
occurs of basic psychological needs. The article presents that MT is composed of many
internal conflicts that can be developed through naturally occurring interactions
with the environment and targeted interventions.
When focusing on the motivational antecedents and associations with performance and
psychological health, Mahoney et al. (2014) concluded that autonomy supportive environments
had a positive association with psychological needs satisfaction. In other words,
autonomous supportive evidence allowed for a more successful environment for athletes
to develop a greater sense of mental toughness. In the review, the primary focus revolves
around the idea that mental toughness is a multidimensional concept. The capacity
of mental toughness consists of several personal characteristics such as self-confidence,
optimistic thinking and buoyancy (Mahoney et al., 2014). A positive association between
mental toughness and psychological needs satisfaction was shown in the review based
on race times of track athletes.
A second review by Mahoney et al. (2014) focuses on the perspectives of adolescents
pertaining to mental toughness and its development. The research that was conducted
allowed the young students to fill out personal forces and resources that create success
in sport. Researchers found nine emerging characteristics from the data including
forces such as persistence, drive, high self-expectations and resources such as self-belief
and optimistic thinking (Mahoney et al., 2014). The review emphasizes the importance
of an individuals’ immediate and surrounding environments due the insight that they
contribute to mental toughness. Since the review focuses on adolescents, the authors
also included that the time of a critical incident in sport was important to the development
of MT. Positive and negative events both contribute to the level of mental toughness
one has, but other personal factors including a curious disposition determine how
much the failures and setbacks contribute to an athlete’s development. In youth sports
it is essential that coaches provide a proper environment for their athletes to grow
physically and psychologically.
For coaches, it can be difficult when teaching the concept of mental toughness to
players, however, Weinberg et al. (2016) provides a good foundation of how coaches
can implement the development of mental toughness. The first subsection that the author
points out for a coach, is being mindful of how they think about their athletes; being
critical but encouraging and educating themselves and their staff. Another section
involves being mindful in what to do, which can be done through creating adversity,
fostering autonomy, and seeing athletes as individuals. Adversity can allow athletes
to make mistakes in practice and learn from those mistakes for games (Weinberg et
al., 2016). Ultimately, the review suggests that coaches attempt to build simple mental
skills such as coping strategies, imagery, and relaxation.
After thorough review of the peer-review articles, I think that coaches should be
implementing mental training programs into their regular schedules. By developing
good habits for their athletes, coaches can set end goals and keep athletes motivated
through commitment. Coaches should also implement autonomous environments where their
athletes can be stay motivated. Mental toughness can be developed throughout all ages
and should be consistently practiced. The importance of mental training can be the
difference in an elite-athlete versus a non-elite athlete. By implementing mental
training programs in youth sports, athletes will be prepared to persist in the face
of adversity.
References
Cowden RG, Crust L, Jackman PC, Duckett TR. Perfectionism and motivation in sport:
The mediating role of mental toughness. S Afr J Sci. 2019;115(1/2), Art. #5271, 7
pages. https://doi.org/10.17159/ sajs.2019/5271.
Mahoney, J. W., Gucciardi, D. F., Ntoumanis, N., & Mallet, C. J. (2014). Mental Toughness
in Sport: Motivational Antecedents and Associations With Performance and Psychological
Health. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 36(3), 281–292.
Mahoney, J. W., Mallett, C. J., Gucciardi, D. F., & Ntoumanis, N. (2014). Adolescent
performers’ perspectives on mental toughness and its development: the utility of the
bioecological model. Sport Psychologist, 28(3), 233–244. https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2013-0050.
Sharp, L.-A., Woodcock, C., Holland, M. J. G., Cumming, J., & Duda, J. L. (2013).
A Qualitative Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Mental Skills Training Program
for Youth Athletes. Sport Psychologist, 27(3), 219–232.
Simonsmeier, B. A., & Buecker, S. (2017). Interrelations of Imagery Use, Imagery Ability,
and Performance in Young Athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 29(1), 32–43.
Weinberg, R., Freysinger, V., Mellano, K., & Brookhouse, E. (2016). Building mental
toughness: perceptions of sport psychologists. The Sport Psychologist, 30(3), 231–241. https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2015-0090.
