INTRODUCTION TO MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING

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INTRODUCTION TO MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING

• Damon Burton Bernie Holliday
• Vandal Sport Psychology Services
• University of Idaho

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What is Mental Skills Training (MST)?
• How important is the mental side of competition?
• What factors would increase or decrease your
  motivation to actually use mental training?

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WHAT IS MST?

• same as Psychological Skills Training (PST)
• systematic and consistent practice of mental
  skills
• What is a skill?
• What of your success on the day of competition
  are do to physical __ and __ mental factors?
• What of your weekly practice is devoted to MST?
• mental skills versus mental training tools
• MST uses mental training tools and additional
  strategies to enhance athletes mental skills

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MENTAL TRAINING TOOLS VERSUS MENTAL SKILLS

• Mental Training Tools
• goal setting
• imagery
• self talk
• relaxation energization

• Mental Skills
• motivation
• energy management,
• stress management,
• attentional control, and
• self-confidence

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WHY MST IS IMPORTANT

• Have you ever played down to a lesser-skilled
  opponents ability level?
• Have you ever choked at a critical point in a
  game or match?
• Have you ever thought about non-sport-related
  activities during practice or competition?
• Have you ever skipped a workout because you
  didnt feel motivated, energized, or focused?

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WHY MST IS IMPORTANT

• Preseason Season
  Postseason

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WHY MST IS IMPORTANT

• Preseason Season
  Postseason

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WHY ATHLETES AND COACHES DONT USE MST

• lack of knowledge about MST and sport psychology
• You have to be confident! Concentrate! and
  Relax out there!
• belief that mental skills are innate and
  unchangeable
• That Bernies just a head case under pressure
• The person-in-the-box phenomenon
• lack of time
• buying into all of the MST myths

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MST MYTHS

• MST is for problem athletes only
• Only 10 of athletes require the services of a
  clinical sport psychologist (Weinberg Gould,
  1999)
• MST is for elite athletes only
• Youth athletes to professionals
• Athletes, business folk, actors, performers,
  musicians, and surgeons are just a few of the
  occupations benefiting from MST
• The magic wand myth
• MST doesnt work and isnt useful

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DOES MST WORK?

• research on elite-level performers,
• anecdotal reports from athletes and coaches
• athletes and coaches subjective experiences
• intervention studies
• Greenspan Feltz (1989)
• Weinberg Comar (1994)

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3 PHASES OF MST

• Old School
• Education
• concentration lecture
• Acquisition
• concentration activities
• Practice
• automate concentration by performing activities
  daily
• Problem Athletes had trouble integrating MST
  into competition

• New School
• Education
• Acquisition
• Practice
• Implementation
• skill-transfer strategies
• Performance
• less well-learned skills break down under
  pressure and old habits resurface

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WHO SHOULD PERFORM MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING?

• sport psychologist
• Problem(s)
• coach/exercise leader
• Problem(s)
• athlete
• Problems(s)

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WALKING THE WALK IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM

• When to begin
• ideally, off-season or preseason
• more time to learn and automate new skills
• less pressure to win
• How long
• first exposure is 3 to 6 months
• then, lifetime commitment
• Needs assessment
• oral interviews
• written psychological inventories (e.g., tests)
• performance profiling (see additional handouts)

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WALKING THE WALK IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM

• Needs assessment (continued)
• beware the canned MST programs!
• Identify critical mental skills and mental
  training tools for each individual athlete
• Provide vision and long-term goal setting
• Develop systematic practice routine and schedule

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WALKING THE WALK IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM

• 1. Develop and implement the MST program based
  on 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 above
• Systematically evaluate and revise MST program
• develop a strategy to monitor progress (e.g.,
  logs, etc.)
• Reward goal achievement regularly

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SOME COMMON MST IMPLEMENTATION PROBLEMS

• lack of conviction
• Sell, sell, sell!
• lack of time
• Coaches must commit to a set time
• lack of consultants sport knowledge
• Learn, learn, learn!
• lack of follow-up
• Schedule 2-3 regular follow-up meetings prior to
  implementing MST programs