Sports Pyschology, Mental toughness, and leadership

Iron_City · **Joined:** Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:41 am **Posts:** 17018

I know I've been hung up on this lately, and its a real concern of mine. Done some research on it lately, but a very incomplete work.

Listened to an interview and did some research on the "Mental Toughness Program" at IMG academies geared toward football players. Turns out many coaches and teams employ mental toughness coaches such as Tom Coughlin, Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, and NY Yankees.

IMG coaches started working with a young Fred Taylor. He wasn't responding the leadership or coaching in his locker room. Apparently as hard as he tried, his performance wasn't peak. He couldn't taylor his regimen to play a full 16 game season. They benchmarked about 20 guys in Jags locker room they identified as leaders, and in at least contract #2, to find common characteristics. The two most common were they ALL came in at 6:30 am and ALL took ice baths after every workout. Taylor had been coming in 2 hours later. Taylor asked what he should do for those 2 hours. He was told just do what the veterans do. The young Fred Taylor started watching and acting like the leaders in his locker room, and he played the next 41 consecutive games in a row and retired 15th leading rusher of all time. This kind of stuff is real to me with so many young and impressionable minds on Steeler roster. I think its why you have 1 hit wonders, players and teams that can't sustain success.

Why does this matter? -- The reason I'm finding out is "self talk". No matter who you are, you talk to yourself in your head. Probably mostly criticism. The average person speaks 800-1400 words per day to yourself whether you realize it or not. Its supposedly 10X that for athletes. Apparenty athletes respond to voice tone and body language of peers more than others. Which is a direct effect of proper leadership. You take for example when people say a CB that just go beat needs a "short memory". If he keeps replaying his mistake over and over, he's sure to get beat again. Now if your that CB and playing opposite Champ Bailey, watch him get beat, and overcome it, your more likely to rebound faster.

This "self talk" in your head can help either acquire or rid of bad habits. Bad habits create bad practice, bad practice creates bad play. Theres a lot to it, from goal setting, to imagery (visualization) training, If you've ever competed and for a time period were "in a zone", then you realize that what that short term boost of confidence did for you. And if you could replicate every play, you would have. But you can't because its a mental state of mind.

All this is geared toward when coaches say they need to change culture in the locker room. In our case, we need to sustain culture after losing several leaders. Each of those lost leaders was an ambassador to the coach to carry out his message and plan.

anyhow, if anyone is interested, some good reading on mental toughness

Quote:

Role Clarity - This concerns the extent to which players are clear what their formal role is on the team.
A lack of clarity can lead to confusion, reduced confidence and increased conflict among other players or
coaches.
Role Acceptance - This is the extent to which players are satisfied with their assigned role. It is
possible to be clear about your role, yet be unhappy with it.
Perceived Role Performance - This concerns how well players are performing their specific roles.
Even if one is clear and accepting about their specific role, without adequate performance, overall team
cohesion may suffer.

http://www.mdsports.net/docs/mentaltoug ... otball.pdf

Quote:

“One of the common themes that I see at the highest levels is a large amount of preparation leading into what a coach is going to say,” Moawad said. “Relevant stories, analogies, inspirational quotes – they all set a tone.”

Coaches should focus not only on what they are saying, but how they are saying it, as athletes pick up more on the body language and tone than the actual words. Coaches should also be more specific with their messages.

“The easiest thing a coach can do is observe and report,” Moawad said. “’We aren’t defending well. We don’t have enough energy.’ A fan can do that. As a coach, you need to be better. Focus on exactly what your team should be doing.”

Quote:

When Jimbo Fisher took the head coach position at FSU, he told the world that he wanted to change the culture of the program. A large portion of that plan involved creating a leadership group consisting of key players on the team. The players serve as a mouthpiece for the coach, serve as a mentor to other teammates when needed and even discipline other players for things such as missing class or misrepresenting the team.

“You have to give that peer group real power,” Moawad said. “Empower them to be true ambassadors for the team.”

http://blog.imgacademies.com/2012/05/03 ... ntal-game/

Quote:

Throughout the year, Saban will bring in Moawad -- whom he met while coaching the Miami Dolphins -- to run players through drills that reinforce specific mental traits. The exercise that helped Hightower understand why he needed to speak up during the Auburn game involves a group of players who are tasked with planning a barbecue. Each player wears a number on his head. He can't see the number, but his teammates can. A one is the low man on the totem pole. A nine is an alpha dog. Moawad instructs the players to treat one another in accordance to the number on each person's head. When the nine speaks, everyone listens and reacts. When the twos and threes speak, they are ignored. "You start to learn status," Moawad said. "The overall goal is learning where you fit in. At different times, you need to play different roles." Said left tackle Barrett Jones: "By the end, everyone clearly knew what number they were." Hightower hadn't realized during the Auburn game that he was already a nine.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... z1vMYAQlRH

actually, as I read it in detail, that SI link right ^ there sums it up well