Mental preparation is a significant asset

If he crashes mentally, the best athlete in the world is nothing. Mental preparation is a significant asset for athletes wishing to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, my many years of experience in sports coaching have taught me that mental preparation still needs to be better understood. For most people, it boils down to anchoring in the athlete's head the belief that they can succeed. Then come the empty phrases, the useless encouragement, and the tremendous existential philosophy about achievement. From a cloud of abstract ideas, we imagine that concrete actions will result, leading to victory. Unfortunately, this is far from reality.

Art and science

Mental preparation is the art and science of putting together the different pieces of the puzzle that determine the path to success. We want athletes to be convinced that they can achieve their goals. To accomplish this, they need to be at the peak of their physical abilities and feel fulfilled in their sport (the mental aspect). As the body cannot be separated from the mind, nor the mind from the body, it's easy to understand that if the body isn't doing well, it's highly likely that the athlete's mind isn't at its best. We must consider the athlete's physical state if we want optimal mental preparation. For the athlete to be ready to give his all for victory, he must:

- Be in peak physical condition. This implies that the training program is effective.

- Have the energy to meet physical demands. Nutrition must, therefore, be adapted to meet his energy expenditure. Otherwise, he'll get tired, be unable to recover effectively, suffer from sleep disorders, experience stress, and eventually injure himself.

- Develop an excellent ability to manage stress, emotions, and time pressures. Most athletes must possess this ability. It needs to be taught to them, and they must practice it regularly.

- Being able to maintain concentration in crucial moments. In competition, for example. Again, this is not an innate mental ability. It must also be taught and practiced by the athlete.

To deliver results

The athlete must invest as much time in mental preparation as physical training to deliver the desired results. Think about it: the main mental effort most athletes make is to try to avoid failure. Unfortunately, it's not by aiming for an opposing goal in this way that they adopt the behaviors that lead to success. Athletes must be trained to think for success, not avoid disaster. Mental preparation is a learning process.

Regular practice of development techniques remains essential if the athlete is to progress. Mental preparation does not guarantee victory, but the probability of failure increases considerably without it.