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You are here: Home / Mental Coach Articles / Why Athletes Avoid Mental Training

Why Athletes Avoid Mental Training

March 25, 2017 By Patrick Cohn Leave a Comment

aasp certification

Dr. Cohn here from the MGCP certification course where I teach mental coaches how to overcome barrier to their success…

What’s the top question I receive from mental coaches? Most everyone wants to know:

“How can we help athletes understand the importance of mental training?”

The truth is, many athletes, coaches, and sports parents don’t understand why mental training is so critical to performance and enjoying sports.

Based on our sports psychology survey with coaches, 53% of them said their athletes resist mental training.

If half of the athletes you come in contact with don’t understand mental training, then how can you help them embrace it?

First, one reason athletes avoid mental training is because a few myths still exist about sports psychology.

Here are just a few of the top myths that hold athletes back:

  1. “I’m already mentally tough.”
  2. “I’m playing well now. I don’t want to hurt my momentum.”
  3. “My teammates or coach will think I am weak if I need mental training.”
  4. “I don’t want to focus on the negative – that’s all a mental coach does.”

Dispelling myths about sports psychology is a good start to help athletes understand the benefits of mental training.

But this is just for starters…

You also want help athletes understand what mental training is and how it can help…

  1. Help them understand the benefits of mental training
  2. Simplify the mental game and avoid psychobabble
  3. Relate mental training to other forms of training they are doing already
  4. Discuss what they might be missing if they don’t do mental training

In addition, we like to mention role models and examples of popular athletes who have used mental training such as professional and Olympic athletes.

You might discuss how these athletes openly talk about the importance of having a strong mental game.

For example, Mia Hamm said this about mental toughness, “The most important attribute a soccer player must have is mental toughness. Before you can win, you must have the will to prepare to win.”

The athletes or teams you work with are more likely to embrace mental training when they understand it and its benefits.

However, the best way for athletes to buy into mental training is when they actually experience its power firsthand.

You can use introductory seminars, sample session, and simple tests to help your athletes experience the power of mental training.

You can use testimonials from athletes and coaches who have had success with your mental training program. Athletes will be more receptive to trying mental training for themselves if others are benefiting from using it.

Here’s one example of a way to introduce athletes to the benefits of mental training:

Sports Psychology – Success Stories

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

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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.

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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.

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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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Mental Coach Credibility Program

Call 888-742-7225 for More Information

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