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You are here: Home / Mental Coach Articles / When Should Athletes Start Mental Training?

When Should Athletes Start Mental Training?

July 18, 2016 By Patrick Cohn Leave a Comment

What age should athletes start mental training?

What’s the best age for my athlete to start mental training?

This is a very common question we receive from parents when they call in to inquire about mental coaching.

However, there is not one simple answer because your answer depends on:

  • The athlete’s level of competition
  • The athlete’s maturity level
  • The athlete’s willingness to commit to mental training

Typically, we tell parents that most athletes can engage in a one-on-one mental training program if they are 12 and older.

However, I have worked with athletes as young as 8 years old. In these cases, I tend to work with the parents just as much as I work with the athletes.

I do ask parents that the athlete meet for 15 minutes so I can assess if the athlete if ready to do mental coaching–a sort of screening process.

But it’s never too soon for parents and coaches begin instilling positive mental skills…

Very young athletes (ages 6-11) might not be ready for a personal coaching program, but that doesn’t mean they can’t start learning about mental skills.

For example, we have a series of children’s books (ages 6-9) that parents can read with young athletes. These books focus on confidence, focus, and coping with mistakes, for example.

We also provide several resources for parents and young athletes at Kids’ Sports Psychology…

So if the athlete is not ready to engage in a formal mental training program, we provide other options to learn about mental skills–and get the parents involved.

You certainly want to have resources for young athletes in the form of audio, video, or short eBooks–if they are not ready or willing to do mental coaching.

In the MGCP program, we recently added a new chapter on working with young athletes and their parents.

More parents are becoming interested in how best to communicate with their athletes about performance and mental skills training. You want to be prepared for this.

The spring MGCP certification course will start the second week of February. Early enrollment is open now and ends January 15.

You have until this Friday to register early for the course. You can register right up until one week prior to the program, but it will cost more.

What a graduate had to say about the course:

“I’ve been involved in coaching for over 30 years and included mental skills to help close the gap between potential and performance. I’ve attended numerous workshops relating to sport psychology throughout my career along with receiving a graduate degree in behavioral studies. Dr. Cohn fully shares his knowledge and extensive library of audio, visual, and printed materials with his class, in addition to, the thorough coursework materials provided. What I found most valuable is that this program provided a framework and step-by-step method of evaluation and implementation of the sound principles that he teaches; all of which are research based, accepted, and on the cutting edge of sport psychology.”

~Jim Bonfiglio, M.Ed., Certified MGCP

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

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.

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OR READ MORE

Mental Coach Credibility Program

Call 888-742-7225 for More Information

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