FINDING OUR INNER CHAMPION

Mental Toughness: 
How Champions Respond to Stress

   THE PRESSURE AND STRESS WHICH ATHLETES EXPERIENCE during big competitions can significantly impair their ability to play at their highest level.  From Greg Norman’s blowing a big lead at the 1996 Master’s to Karl Malone missing 2 critical free throws at the end of a 1997 play-off game against the Bulls – we’ve seen time and again how the pressure of the moment can take even the most seasoned athlete out of his game.

   Those athletes who have developed the capacity to effectively manage stress – or who have learned critical coping mechanisms from working with sport psychologists – have been able to be in top form when it matters, and have the awards to show for it.

   While it is essential to have talent and technique, that is not enough to succeed at the highest levels.

   In elite sports, stress is a fact of life. Athletes who lack critical mental management skills are NOT going to fare as well as those who develop effective tools for coping with – and even embracing stress.

   In 1994 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario was knocking on the no. 1 ranking in women’s tennis, but went for six months without a title win. She began to work with a sport psychologist. An initial series of meetings was followed by constant phone calls, faxes (that was before texting!) and periodic visits. The sport psychologist helped her develop strategies that kept her focused and determined no matter how far ahead or how far behind she might be. In three months’ time, she won the French Open, and won eight more titles that year. Perhaps her biggest victory was a win over Steffi Graf in the finals at the U.S. Open; she had never beaten Graf on hard courts before that. What is particularly worth noting is that Sanchez-Vicario LOST the first set 6-1.

   While stress is often given a bad “rap,” the fact is that stress is critical to our growth as athletes and as human beings. Stress is the thing that impels us to seek out and strive to achieve lofty goals.  As sport psychologist Dr. James Loehr notes, “Stress is a prerequisite for mental, physical and emotional growth.”  Take for example, how we develop physical strength: by stressing our muscles in resistance training – by actually tearing down muscle tissue – and then allowing it to rebuild in stronger form.  The same thing is true of MENTAL toughness.

   Consider the tale of Bonnie St. John, winner of the Silver Medal in the slalom skiing event at the 1984 Paralympic Games. St. John recalled,

In the first run of the slalom, I was ahead, but then I fell down and had to get up to complete the race. In fact, the woman who won the gold medal also fell down. I knew from previous races that I could ski faster than her.  But what won the gold medal for he was that she got up faster than I did after falling down.  I learned that everybody falls down … but Olympic athletes get up faster, and gold medal athletes get up the fastest of all

   Mental toughness is the quality that enables athletes – or any of us – to get up fastest of all – by remaining focused, positive and clear-headed under conditions of stress. Whatever your level of talent and skill, developing mental toughness is what enables you to perform consistently at the peak of your talent – and flourish in the process.

Having the ability to anticipate and recognize stress, to manage your stress during competition, and to recover from stress between competitions (matches) – and even between points – are all critical to YOUR ability to compete with confidence, control and consistency.  

What are you doing to maximize YOUR mental toughness?

© 2015 by Dr. Mitchell Smith.  All rights reserved.