INTRODUCTION TO MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING

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INTRODUCTION TO MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING

• Damon Burton Bernie Holliday
• 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 MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING?

• Often termed Psychological Skills Training (PST)
• Most athletes develop mental training tools and
  skills to some degree through trial and error.
• MSTs goal is to enhance the development and
  automation of mental training tools and skills
  through a comprehensive and systematic program.
• Good MST programs not only speed up and enhance
  the development process, but they also ensure
  that performers develop more fully, perform at a
  higher level, enjoy sport more and transfer these
  skills to all other areas of their lives.

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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 Sesason
  Postseason

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WHY MST IS IMPORTANT

• Preseason Sesason
  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?

• Elite-level performer research
• 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

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

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

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WHO SHOULD PERFORM MST?

• 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 program!
• 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
• 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 PROBLEMS WITH IMPLEMENTING MST

• Lack of conviction
• Sell, sell, sell!
• Lack of time
• Coaches should commit to a time
• Lack of consultants sport knowledge
• Learn, learn, learn!
• Lack of follow-up
• Plan for and schedule two or three follow-up
  meetings prior to implementing MST programs