• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Mental Coach Certification

Mental Game Coach Certification for Coaches and Therapists

  • Home
  • About MGCP
    • About Dr. Cohn
    • Testimonials
    • Endorsements
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer
  • MGCP Programs
    • One-on-One MGCP
    • Live Certification Course
    • Self-Paced Course
    • How MGCP Program Works
    • Questions & Answers
    • MGCP Products
    • Success Stories
    • Testimonials
  • Articles
    • Videos
  • Find MGCPs
  • Apply Today!
  • Contact Us!
You are here: Home / Mental Coach Articles / Top Mistakes Mental Game Coaches Make

Top Mistakes Mental Game Coaches Make

May 20, 2018 By Patrick Cohn Leave a Comment

How to Understand Your Athletes’ Needs

A mental game coach trying to establish himself recently asked me this question:

“What is the number one mistake mental coaches make on the first session with an athlete?”

I’ll give two answers to this question today because I think the answer depends on your philosophy about how to do mental coaching…

First, I believe you must understand your student or athlete before you begin formal coaching. I agree with the notion, “Seek first to understand,” as Steven Covey says.

A mistakes mental coaches make is not fully understanding the mental game needs of the student before starting to instruct or coach.

Besides teaching my MGCP students the phases of mental coaching, we discuss how to do a preliminary assessment (using the AMAP) even before you meet with the student.

In the MGCP course, we also talk about what questions to ask in the first session with a student to gain more information that you don’t get from an assessment.

I suggest you are really an investigator first and then a coach later. I want to understand my students fully before I begin coaching for many reasons.

Thus, in my first session with an athlete, I’ll go over his or her assessment and drill down with relevant questions to understand my student.

I know some mental game experts who are more directive and want to begin coaching in the first session without first understanding the student’s needs. And I think this is a mistake.

Second, I also think it’s important for you to develop rapport with your student in the first session. You want to put your student at ease and gain their trust.

So, I spend a few moments discussing my student’s background, the plan for coaching, and asking more basic questions before getting into the more difficult questions about their mental game.

Of course, this is just one approach you can use. But it’s worked well for my MGCPs and myself over the years.

If you have not done so, please complete an application at the MGCP website:

Mental Game Coaching Professional Application

If you have already submitted your MGCP application, please email me to request the enrollment forms.

Please call me at 888-742-7225 if you have any questions about the course.

Students in the MGCP program get access to the same mental game assessments I use in my work–The AMAP, GMAP, and TCAP. I teach you how to evaluate an athlete’s or team’s mental approach and what relevant questions to ask in the initial interview stage. Find more details about the course here:

Mental Game Coaching Professional

Filed Under: Mental Coach Articles, Sports Psychology Certification Tagged With: Sports Psychologist Certification

MGCP - Sports Psychology Certification Course

  1. The MGCP 20-chapter workbook including exercises to teach you how to identify mental game challenges and obstacles that influence performance; develop mental skills individual and team members; and improve teamwork and communication.
  2. The Athlete's Mental Edge workbook system to help you stay organized and accelerate your athletes learning and progress with mental skills.
  3. 12+ Real-life video and audio case studies to accelerate your learning of mental game coaching.
  4. MGCP Summaries, outlines and flow charts to help you understand the over mental coaching process and the phases of mental coaching taught by Dr. Cohn.
  5. Examples of mental imagery programs (hockey, dog handling, and golf) including how to create imagery scripts and audio programs for your athletes.
  6. A series of sports psychology e-books on goal setting, confidence, focus, pregame and preshot routines.
  7. Use of Dr. Cohn’s Athlete’s Mental Aptitude Profile (AMAP) and several sport-specific versions to help you identify an athlete’s or team’s mental game strengths and weaknesses.
  8. Use of the Team Cohesion Aptitude Profile (TCAP) to assess team cohesion; and a sports parent’s profile to use with sports parents.
  9. Examples of pre-seminar questionnaires to use before you give a seminar to a group to help you identify mental game challenges and areas to teach.
  10. How to do team mental game assessments efficiently using an online assessment tool.
  11. Over 160 mental game coaching “handouts” or one-page summaries and worksheets you can use to help you stay organized during sessions and as summaries for your student or team.
  12. 18 real-life case studies focusing on a different challenge in sports psychology and Dr. Cohn’s solution to each. You understand the real-life issues with athletes and how to address their mental game barriers.

Apply for sports psychology certification today!

Resources for Mental Game Coaches

Please browse our programs for mental game coaches and sports psychology professionals below. With the purchase of each program, you can upgrade to the Self-Paced Course or the Full MGCP Certification Course. Contact us at Peak Performance Sports, LLC for more details: 888-742-7225

AMAP Assessment System

The AMAP System licenses to you our exclusive mental game assessment. You learn how how to easily identify your athletes’ mental game challenges, what mental game issues to look, and how to do a summary of the AMAP. The AMAP has several purposes beyond its use as an assessment tool.

BUY NOW

OR READ MORE

Mental Game Assessments

Athlete's Mental Edge Workbooks

The Athlete’s Mental Edge workbook system 2.0 is designed for both mental coaches and sports team coaches. And no matter if you are a 20-year mental coach veteran or just starting your career as a mental coach, you’ll love the simplicity of the workbooks, and your athletes will appreciate your organization.

BUY NOW

OR READ MORE

Workbooks for Mental Coaches

Mental Coaches' Playbook

The Mental Coach's Playbook is a tool for mental coaches to help them improve efficiency and success as a mental game coach working with sports parents and their young athletes. Learn the top issues for young athletes and their parents. Learn how to be more successful when working with young athletes. Digital Download Only.

BUY NOW

OR READ MORE

Working with Sports Parents

Improving Credibility for Mental Coaches

This program helps new and experienced mental coaches gain credibility in your field of expertise. In “Improving Credibility,” sports psychology professionals learn how to get organized with your business documents, how to harness social proof from athletes and coaches, and learn the top tactics to improve your credibility as a mental coach.

BUY NOW

OR READ MORE

Mental Coach Credibility Program

Call 888-742-7225 for More Information

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

MGCP Certification Program

Sports Psychology Certification

Mental Coach Mentor Videos

Sports Psychology Certification
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

MGCP Sports Psychology Certification

  • Course Options
  • One-on-One Course
  • Certification Course
  • Self-Paced Course
  • How it Works
  • Questions & Answers
  • MGCP Success Stories

About the MGCP Course

  • About the MGCP Course
  • MGCP Testimonials
  • Find a MGCP
  • MGCP Success Stories
  • Q and A about MGCP Course
  • About Dr. Patrick Cohn

MGCP Products

Resources for Mental Coaches

Athlete’s Mental Edge Workbooks 2.0

Mental Edge Workbooks

AASP Approved Mentor

Dr. Patrick Cohn is an approved mentor for AASP members. Receive mentor hours for participation in the MGCP Certification program. Learn more…

Footer CTA

Become MGCP Certified

Apply Now to MGCP Course

Mental Coach Mentor Tips

Career Mental Coach Videos

Copyright © 2023 · MGCP Certification by Peak Performance Sports