Nine Mental Skills Of Successful Athletes

Staying up late to finish up an essay, or studying late at night after a long day of a physical and mental beat down, is pushed through with determination. Sports taught me determination, and it comes with work ethic. Being a student athlete also gave me leadership qualities both in the classroom and on the field. No where in the classroom will I be put into situations where quick decisions must be made and consequences are waiting to follow. The discipline that is required to be successful at a sport has only strengthened me in every aspect of my life. The discipline through sports has taught me to respect everyone, be coachable, and not to sell myself short. Everything learned through sports gives you a big advantage in school as well. For many of us, if it wasn't for sports, we wouldn't still be in school working this hard. Being a student athlete helps prepare you to catch anything life throws at you, and to handle it very well. Gold medal olympian Bob Richards stated that "One of the great lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top". Sports has taken me farther in life and school than I believe I could’ve taken

Many people believe that the college athletes are just like the professionals because they train and work just as hard as hard as the pros. First of all college students are working and training so hard because they want to make it to the major-leagues some day. “Students are not professional athletes who are paid salaries and incentives for a career in sports. They are students receiving access to a college education through their participation in sports, for which they earn scholarships to pay tuition, fees, room and

All of the publicity that is attained by success, and the possibility of this success, places a great deal of pressure and stress on these young single-sport athletes. This stress and pressure takes the fun out of some sports. Youth sports are becoming serious and based more on winning than on having a great time and learning good sportsmanship. Adu points out the winning mindset of athletes in this day and age when he says, “Teams will do anything to win the game. My coach told me to expect that going in and that is exactly how it was. . .I felt like everybody was out to get me” (Goodall, 2003). This

Athletics has played an instrumental role promoting success in all branches of life impacting my performance in school, work and other life facets. Involvement in athletics taught me the value of commitment allowing me to play in Division 1 Women’s Soccer while attending the University of Washington. As a former student athlete, I have been winning and losing my entire life developing my own resilience and tremendous work ethic to work with others toward a common goal. My drive spills over into my professional interactions and career aspirations allowing me to connect

To be an athlete, especially one of the three sport variety, is a huge undertaking, as it requires year-round commitment and a passion for hard work. Personally, I have played consistently in three sports since the fifth grade, and I believe this lifelong dedication has paid off for me. It’s impossible to put all of your energy into being an athlete, because while becoming successful in sports is one thing, it is an entirely more important matter to become a successful student. Balancing this can be hard and it is that balance which must be perfected in order to become a good athlete. An athlete to me isn't just someone who straps on their jersey and plays a game, it is a person who is dedicated to a sport on and off the field, and someone who exemplifies the best qualities in their environment.

Sports have been a big part of my life since I was young. When I reach one goal, I begin a new and more challenging goal to achieve. When I overcome my goals, I feel a sense of happiness, and amazement that I can be the best that I can be.

Success, the act of accomplishing a goal, the attainment of wealth, achieving a recognized position in life, many definitions however, who is willing to try hard enough to achieve success? Maybe the larger question is, is success attainable for everyone? Many would answer “no it’s not possible for everyone to be successful”. Well I beg to differ , if a young African American kid from a tough part of Hampton Virginia can grow to become one of the most respected athletes to ever play in the NBA, why not you.

The desire for instant gratification and the entitlement of today’s youth and young adults leaves many athletes not knowing the important concept of commitment. Commitment is a serious, long-term promise you make and keep with yourself and others to fully dedicate yourself to your task, training and/or team, even when, and especially when times are tough. Further, commitment means not only promising to do something, but much more importantly, actually investing the necessary effort and actions to make it happen (Janssen, “The 6 Key Components of Commitment”). A serious commitment is a solemn promise, a full investment, willingness to sacrifice, long-term obligation, a pact to preserve, and an agreement to act (Janssen, “The 6 Key Components of Commitment”).

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

The ultimate quest for sport psychologists is to establish what psychological factors produce the winning formula or to try to establish a profile of the successful athlete. Within the psychological framework attempts, to determine the "ideal athletic personality" have only been marginally successful (Morgan 1980, in White, 1993). One of the categories observed in order to understand and move towards the 'ideal athletic personality' is that of Psychological Skills Training (PST), "It is contended that mental skills training is a significant part of sport psychology and is of particular importance to athletes and coaches" (Rushall, 1995, p0.3).

In My article, "Breaking Muscle", it talks about how and what makes people, such as athletes, be able to have high motivation in what they do in life. It ,also, talks about what in the brain that makes people motivate themselves to do what they want and control how much they work in life towards what they want. Motivation is huge factor for people and it has been proven that even animals have motivation, too. It's used daily in our lives, by what people have as doing their jobs to even as a kid learning how to walk. If you have high motivation it can help you get a higher paying job if you never give up and keep your eye on the prize. With athletes, especially the professional ones, they usually have a high motivational level to do their

of achieving anything. Sports have taught me that anything is possible, and that you may not be

As a multisport athlete ever since I was a young girl, I have grown up with a passion for being an athlete. Growing up an athlete, I have gained many invaluable lessons that will no doubt stick with me for a lifetime. Not only have these lessons benefitted me on the field, but also in my everyday life at school and in my community. A few of the most valuable qualities for an athlete to possess include a strong sense of leadership, the ability to work with a team, and the willingness to be a good sport. As an athlete ever since I was old enough to hold a bat and ball, I have spent most of my life developing and strengthening these qualities.

Sports has become one of the most impactful and influential parts of our culture. Sports has cemented itself as a standard part of society. In fact, taking a look back on myself and coming from an athletic background, growing up my mom would always put me in a variety of sports. When I reached high school age something that was always drilled into me by my coaches was the aspect of hard work. During my high school sporting career there was a multitude of setbacks and failures Coach Hosner who was my coach at the time, would always give me some sort of motivational snippet on hard work, and with it how anything could be accomplished. However, in today’s professional sports world there

As we all know people have to sacrifice things in life. But anybody that wants to be a professional athlete or any kind of athletes have to sacrifice all their free time to do the sport that they love. That is mentally challenging and takes a lot of willpower to do, not to mention how young they have to start out doing it to get anywhere in their sport. Even if people are talented it never means they will succeed in that sport or even succeed in life in general. The ones that are dedicated are the ones who usually get some where in life or in a sport. Even if you do that you will only be at “98%” (90) said by Jonathan Vaughters you then have to make a decision that could change your life. To dope and not have to do as much or keep clean not get in trouble but work twice as hard to get the same amount of work. “Hard work, suffering, discipline, and sacrifice” (89) said by mister Vaughters is what he had to to achieve his dream of making it big in bicycle racing. It is the same in all sports I think, but some are going to believe in sports to do that you have to be fit in the extreme. I think about how some people would think those sacrifices and those struggles need a lot of physical strength or you just couldn’t do it. The thing is that have you ever heard of a person that just started out as a fit person being the most athletic or most successful it happens, but always the person that is most determined does it always.