Sports teach adolescents important life lessons: how to set goals; follow-through; how to learn from defeat and bounce back; how to win graciously; how to work well on a team; how to take constructive criticism (and praise); how to consistently train for continual improvement in performance; and the list continues. And just like in life, sometimes there are bumps in the athletic road, curve balls thrown, and/or plateaus reached. Often times what can help athletes smooth out the bumps, hit the curve balls and overcome the plateaus is training the mental game.

 

All elite performers know the importance of training smart and training hard, being physically fit and being optimally ready for all performances. But training the mental game is often neglected in adolescence and not attempted until higher levels of performance are reached (i.e. college or professional). However, training the mental game in adolescence can have immense benefits. The skills used to hone mental performance are often times skills that can be used to hone life’s performance. 

 

Training the mental game – otherwise known as sports psychology or sports performance therapy – is applicable to athletes of all ages and skill levels (from novice athletes to aspiring professional athletes). Sports performance therapy is where sports psychology, the psychology of excellence and performance, and traditional cognitive behavioral therapies combine to apply sound therapeutic techniques with knowledge & sports specific strategies gleaned from the sports & performance world. For adolescence, this therapy is through appropriate developmental lenses.