Athlete's Mental Toughness

Sport’s are an aspect of life that affect societies across the globe. Athletics affect everyone's life, whether that be playing the sport, watching games, or hearing about a sporting event. There is a big difference between playing an individual sport and players relying on their own athletic abilities versus a team sport when members of the team rely on their teammates to complete each individual's specific responsibility to reach the team's goal. Team sports bring people together in countless ways, and they teach many life skills for the athletes that participate in them. Some of these skills include communication, teamwork, discipline, work ethic, dedication, leadership, and numerous more that will help them in their personal and work

These aggressive attitudes and tendencies have been shown to have effects on one's judgement and the perception of their environment. An athlete with an over aggressive attitude who's judgement becomes clouded by aggression develops a disregard foe the opponent(s) that their aggression is being aimed at." I think the aggressiveness in sports - just making the play, charging past people or dominating somebody physically - really needs to be separated by athletes from appropriate off field behavior."(Tom Jackson, Univ. Arkansas psychology professor.)

My comprehensive Mental Toughness Model is a three-step process backed by evidenced-based literature and timeless values and principles from the great coaches of the past that I greatly respect. None of my programs, plans, or models are set in stone. Once a program, plan, or model is conceived, I continue to improve the process through constant reflection and evaluation plus utilize new knowledge discovered through current sport psychology and performance research literature. In addition, I look at my assignments as opportunity to create something new in order to expand my horizons and reinforce knowledge through direct application. I want to apply what worked in the past with an open mind to new knowledge of the future to reach and sustain peak performance.

Before exploring the health of an athlete its important to understand what mental health is. Mental health is characterised by emotional wellbeing and resilience to stress (ClearingHouseForSport Australian Government Ralph Richards 9th June 2016). Mentally healthy individuals are able to cope with daily stresses and fully participate in family, work and in this case sport activities. A mental disorder is a diagnosable illness that affects a persons thinking, emotional state and behaviour and disrupts his/her ability to carry out normal daily activities and maintain personal relationships. Exercise has many benefits, not only for physical health but also your mental health as well. In the brain, exercise stimulates chemicals that improve an

Psychology impact of sport injuries is a topic no one hears much about until an athlete is injured and goes through it himself/herself. High school athletes as well as professional ones both are exposed to injuries at any time, the impact of this injury might be the same. Getting injured is devastating for most athletes, what they don’t hear much is how bad it can get to them mentally. Depending on the injury, some athletes are able to return to the sport, others are not so lucky. When they are affected emotionally or mentally, it does not only affect them, but their team, the fans, and even the coaches. In most cases, these injuries and the rehabilitation process are often followed by psychological consequences which can impact the athletes’ well-being, as well as their chances of returning to their sport. The importance of sport psychology will be discussed throughout the paper to give a better understanding on how it affects athletes when dealing with a sport injury. Being aware of the psychological symptoms, as well as knowing how to avoid the effects could make a difference on someone. As well as knowing how important rehabilitation is when wanting to return to the game as soon as possible, if probable.

Although there are numerous different sports around the world, but often the sports that are considered the most popular tend to be the ones that hold the most aggression. For instance, in America the last 30 years straight, professional football has been the most popular sport (Rovell). Since football is the most popular sport, it is also one of the most aggressive sports, along with hockey, mixed martial arts, and soccer. Part of how American football is played is by being very hands on against the opponent, such that, the players have to tackle and knock down the other team’s players. As a result, at times during a game, serious injuries or accidents can occur, particularly, concussions. Unfortunately, there are instances where the aggression, such as in football, takes a toll on all the players’ bodies. Leaving professional football players injured, changing their whole life. For instance, “Earl Campbell was one of the NFL’s most prolific running backs to ever suit up” (Diaz &

As many people know, sports are dangerous. However, most coaches and spectators say things like, “tough it out” or “no pain no gain” to these players. But if a player plays with

I believe that through mental toughness and dedication you can achieve many goals. Such feats are often not attained by everyone simply because they either are of the mindset that they cannot do it or they do not even try. No matter how tremendous or minuscule your end goal may be, if you do not at least attempt to achieve the goal, you may find in the future that you will become accustomed to creating an excuse for not putting forth effort. Being mentally strong is often difficult for people, especially when faced with some type of adversity, whether that be due to school, home life or relationships with peers. Lacking mental strength can be a deciding factor as to if you sink or sail in many things in life.

The purpose of this assignment was to observe and analyze the behaviors of UC Davis athletes on an NCAA Intercollegiate sports team. I was able to observe the athletes in their natural setting and observe their behaviors before, during and after the game. This assignment is important because we are observing athletes without interfering. This gives the researcher the ability to observe their natural behavior while playing the game. From this experience we are trying to learn the different behaviors that each player has, or if they have any similarities. We are also learning how players interact with their team, their coaches and the crowd.

Have you ever thought about how important mental strength is? Mental strength is very important in all sports and in every athlete. Mental strength is a key component in all sports. Mental strength is not only believing in yourself,but it is also knowing what to do in a certain situation in that sport.

On the first hole at Kansas Golf Club I found myself pacing back and forth. Wiping the perspiration from my forehead, all sense of composure slowly surrendered to a not so ordinary nervousness. Don 't get me wrong, I had always been the “nervous” athlete, one that admired the mental prowess of professional athletes. Glorifying others’ attributes surely obstructed enhancement of my own. As the announcer recited my name to the small crowd I pushed my golf tee into the ground, what a magical feeling. My arms swung backward, this was it; I could not embarrass myself. This marked the beginning of my journey, elevating nervous feelings to performance threatening levels. Preventing the inevitable meltdown had been my worst enemy. I often questioned the meaning behind this inner turmoil, but never considered it a priority. I was on the brink of collapse. Was this new found anxiety a reflection of unconscious inclination? After years of subjective contemplation I arrived at one hypothesis: I lacked the experience and ability to outplay failure during adverse situations. Fixed between years of uncompromising commitment to golf and a college golf was an adverse situation. I had never been in the position to win on the last day, no experience of failure to guide me home. In the pursuit of self actualization one must succumb to adversity, experience failure, while maintaining unparalleled obstinacy

Sports are an amazing part of my life, they keep me in shape, and allow me to have fun with my friends. I am involved in football and baseball for the Royalton Royals and have started varsity for both teams since my sophomore year. Sports not only require physical strength, but take a tremendous amount of mental strength as well. From past experiences, I have learned in order to be the best athlete possible, I must have great mental strength including qualities such as confidence, mental toughness, and discipline.

For High Performance athletes, there can be a lot riding on their results and performance in competition. If athletes develop an over-reliance on sporting success as a source of self-worth and identity, it can lead to serious emotional issues if things do not go as desired. Athletes often identify their self-worth with their ability to perform, and performance failure has been significantly associated with depression (Taylor, 2015 pg.11; Troijan, 2016, pg. 137) Athletes face many struggles and when something goes wrong it can leave them not knowing where to turn for help. They can be left with they feelings that they are nothing, undeserving, and alone. This may also exacerbate their feelings of seclusion, depression, or grief. Most athletes

Thoughts and actions of mentally tough athletes are mental plan (pregame and game), emotional control, optimal arousal, confidence, intrinsic motivation, optimism, controlled anxiety, concentration and attentional control (alert and mentally focused), performs automatically, proper situational appraisal (challenge and threat),good coping skills (deals effectively with adversity) projects a positive attitude (positive body language) sense of enjoyment in the competitive setting.

Mental toughness is not a new concept in sport, but is generally misunderstood. Coaches design programmes to develop mentally tough athletes, predominately in professional sport, to separate elite performers from good performers (Gould, Jackson, & Finch, 1993) as physical talent itself is not the only component that can lead an athlete to success (Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2008).