The Olympics are the world’s greatest stage for athletes – and also the biggest stage for drama, pressure, sports performance highlights and unfortunately, choking. It’s the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows – all played out before an eagerly awaiting world audience (
Mind of Steel).So why do some elite-level athletes display great mental toughness and perform their best when the pressure is on – while other athletes fail terribly, even though they know how to execute the athletic skills they have developed over many years of hard practice? To answer that question, and hopefully provide insights to adults who coach young athletes, I offer the following 3 steps designed to maximum athletic success – especially in the clutch:1.) You must develop “muscle memory” (known by its technical term classical conditioning). Muscle memory is essentially the ability to act and react without much, if any, thinking. For example, think how you would automatically respond if you heard a police siren right now – how would you immediately think, and how would your body physically react? What about if somebody quickly threw their arms in your face unexpectedly, how would you immediately react? What if somebody was just about to run their fingernails across a chalkboard — in fact, did you just flinch?! These are all examples of muscle memory (or classically conditioned responses).In order to develop muscle memory in sports, you must first practice athletic skills precisely and repeatedly in non-threatening, low pressure situations – like in an empty gym. This may become boring at times, but as the mind and body begin developing successful “partnerships” with each other by getting used to the drills, muscle memory is developing. From this point, begin to work the drills into practice situations with more pressure, and continue to develop a hierarchy of increasingly tougher situations until the skills are mastered.2) Trust your skills. The next step after muscle memory has developed is to trust your skills. This means that rather than thinking deeply in game situations about what you should do, trust that you will automatically and successfully play your game. Realize that you will make mistakes as this is simply part of being an athlete – but you will also play more successfully as you will be using the skills you have worked hard to develop and are proven to work. Unfortunately, many athletes forget this in pressure situations, and react by trying to second-guess what they should do. The result is usually added pressure, more anxiety, “forced” play, and “choking.”Trusting your skills means learning from your losses – and this is OK! As you train yourself to accept failure as a part of life so long as you make a learning experience from it, you will undoubtedly reach your full athletic potential.3. Develop confidence. Muscle memory and trust will only develop into the superior range of human performance only when confidence is added. Self-confidence (also known as one’s level of self-efficacy) is the degree to which you feel as though you can successfully complete a task. Having confidence is not something that necessarily needs to be displayed to others in any way – although it often is witnessed by others through a certain controlled “swagger” (but not arrogant or cocky). When an athlete plays to win, rather than to avoid losing, it is safe to assume the athlete is confident in his or her abilities.A great way to increase self-confidence is to regularly set and closely monitor personal goals. It is vitally important that goals are specific, measurable, controllable, and believable. In addition, short-, mid-, and long-term goals should be set, and they should be recorded so they are not easily forgotten. Increased self-confidence develops as goals are reached, and is easily transferred to game situations for peak athletic performance.Elite-level athletes not only master the physical and technical aspects of becoming a champion, but they attend to the “mental” skills as well. When we watch Olympians perform before the world, it is often their mental strength and toughness that determines whether they fail or succeed. When they are “perfect,” you can easily see how their muscle memory, trust, and confidence have allowed them to excel. Conversely, when we see athletes choke (meaning they do not execute a skill set they have previously mastered), it is often due to their under-developed muscle memory, lack of trust in their skills, and low level of self-confidence. In other words, rarely is the poor performance due to a lack of physical conditioning, or attempting a skill that has never been tried before.What’s best about developing mental strength is that it is an athletic transferable skill that can easily be used in all areas of life, including academics, career, and all human relationships!
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