1. Mental Toughness

2. What is it? "Mental toughness is many things,
Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial.
It is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that
refuses to give in.
It's a state of mind - you could call it character in
action.” Vincent Lombardi
Mental toughness centres around being determined, resilient, staying in control, and remaining focused in the face of pressure.

3. What is it?
Mental toughness is more than just mental. It’s physical and emotional.
“It is the ability to consistently perform toward the upper range of your talent and skill regardless of competitive circumstances.”
Jim Loehr
– The ability to handle different situations in a balanced, non-defensive manner.
Emotional flexibility also speaks to the skill of drawing on a wide range of positive emotions – humor, fighting
spirit, pleasure.
– You are emotionally engaged in the competitive situation, not withdrawn
– The ability to handle great emotional forces and sustain your fighting spirit no matter what the circumstances.
– Being able to handle setbacks and recover quickly from them.

4. Research Says… Connaughton, Hanton, Jones 2010

6. Step 1: MindSet Everyone is born with an intense drive to learn.
Infants stretch their skills daily. Not just ordinary skills, but the most difficult tasks like learning to walk and talk.
They never decide it’s too hard or not worth the effort. Babies don’t worry about making mistakes or humiliating themselves.
They walk, they fall, they get up.
Benjamin Barber, an eminent sociologist,
“I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures... I divide the world into the learners and nonlearners.”
What would make someone a nonlearner?

7. Step 1: MindSet Benjamin Barber, an eminent sociologist,
“I don’t divide the world into the weak and the
strong, or the successes and the failures...
I divide the world into the learners and nonlearners.”
What would make someone a nonlearner?
Step 1: MindSet
Everyone is born with an intense drive to learn.
Infants stretch their skills daily. Not just ordinary skills, but the most difficult tasks like learning to walk and talk.
They never decide it’s too hard or not worth the effort. Babies don’t worry about making mistakes or humiliating themselves.
They walk, they fall, they get up.
What could put an end to this exuberant learning?
At Hong Kong University all classes are in English and exams are in English. Most student don’t speak English. In a study, students were asked if they were willing to take a course to teach them English. Those with a growth mindset said yes, those with a fixed mindset said no - They didn’t want to expose their deficiencies. So, to feel smart in the short-term they put their futures at risk. They became non-learners.

8. Fixed MindSet He used many excuses as to why he couldn’t win:
His friend was in love
Umpires
Feeling tired
Feeling sick
Didn’t eat enough

9. Fixed MindSet
It’s not enough just to look smart and talented. You have to be pretty much flawless.
And you have to be flawless right away... After all, if you have it you have it, and if you don’t you don’t...
Natural talent should not need effort. Effort is for the others, the less endowed.
Natural talent does not ask for help. It is an admission of weakness.
Do not analyze deficiencies and practice them away. The very idea of deficiencies is terrifying.
Creates a judging internal monologue: “This means I’m a loser.” “This means I’m a better person than they are.” “This means I’m a bad person.” “This means my teammates are selfish.”
Winning and losing is a reflection on a fixed attribute, so the purpose competition is to prove your talent.
Either you have ability OR you expend effort.
Effort is for those who don’t have ability.
Fallacy in thinking (either – or Fallacy)

10. Growth MindSet We all know MJ story:
Not good enough to make his high school team
Failing to make the winning shot more than he makes it
Attempting to try out for MLB
What keeps him pushing forward for more challenges and learning from his mistakes?
MJ: “ mental toughness and the heart are a lot stronger than some of the physical advantages you might have.”
People look at MJ and they see the physical perfection that led inevitably to his greatness.

11. Constantly monitoring what’s going on, but internal monologue is not about judging.
Certainly they’re sensitive to positive and negative information, but they’re attuned to its implications for learning and constructive action:
What can I learn from this?
How can I improve?
How can I help my teammates do this better?
Growth MindSet

12. Labels & Stereotypes You aren’t a failure until you start to blame
You can still be in the process of learning from your mistakes until you deny them. John Wooden
Growth mindset doesn’t believe in permanent inferiority.
They take what they can and what they need even from a threatening environment.
Comes from a fixed mindset – things a innate and learning doesn’t help.

13. Mindsets Fixed Growth Avoid Embrace …get defensive or give up easily
…persist in the face of setbacks
…see effort as fruitless or worse
…see effort as path to mastery
Fixed = they may plateau early and achieve less than their full potential
Growth = they reach ever-higher levels of achievement
…ignore useful negative feedback
…learn from criticism
…feel threatened by the success of others
…find lessons and inspiration in the success of others

14. Step 2: Choice
How you interpret challenges, setbacks, and criticism is a choice.
You can interpret them as signs that your talents or abilities are lacking.
You can interpret them as signs that you need to
ramp up your strategies and effort, stretch yourself,
and expand your abilities.
It’s up to you. So as you face challenges, setbacks, and criticism, listen to the fixed mindset voice..

15. Step 3: Thought Stopping
THE FIXED-MINDSET says “Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don’t have the talent.” THE GROWTH-MINDSET answers, “I’m not sure I can do it now, but I think I can learn to with time and effort.” FIXED MINDSET: “What if you fail—you’ll be a failure” GROWTH MINDSET: “Most successful people had failures along the way.” FIXED MINDSET: “If you don’t try, you can protect yourself and keep your dignity.” GROWTH MINDSET: “If I don’t try, I automatically fail. Where’s the dignity in that?”
Over time, which voice you heed becomes pretty much your choice.
Whether you take on the challenge wholeheartedly, learn from your setbacks and try again, hear the criticism and act on it is now in your hands.
Practice hearing both voices, and practice acting on the growth mindset.

16. Step 3: Thought Stopping
FIXED MINDSET: “This would have been a snap if you really had talent.” GROWTH MINDSET: “That is so wrong. Basketball wasn’t easy for Michael Jordan and science wasn’t easy for Thomas Edison. They had a passion and put in effort. FIXED MINDSET: “It’s not my fault. It was something or someone else’s fault.” GROWTH MINDSET: “If I don’t take responsibility, I can’t fix it. Let me listen — however painful it is – and learn whatever I can.”
Practice hearing both voices, and practice acting on the growth mindset. See how you can make it work for you.

17. Step 4: Feedback/Climate
Present skills as learnable
Convey that the organization/team values learning and perseverance, not just ready- made genius or talent
Give feedback in a way that promotes learning and future success presenting coaches/assistants as resources for learning
Asking for full preparation and full effort
You are smart vs good choice
Natural ability vs good decision on how to use skill or good effort

18. Step 4: Feedback/Climate
Treatment of star players
Rewards/Climate – what are rewards for?
Teamwork – ‘we’ over the ‘I’
Coach style
Worry about being judged
Constant need for validation
Rewards:
Praise for taking initiative
Seeing difficult task through
Struggling and learning something new
Undaunted by setback
Open to and acting on criticism
Coach Style: –democratic is more likely to foster growth mind set over an autocratic style

19. Step 5: Athletes Need a Plan
Goal Setting
Competition Plans
Confidence Plan

20. Goal Setting Plan Manage Motivated Behaviors
Effort, Persistence, Optimal Challenge
Long Term Goals (2-4 years away)
Short Term Goals (This season)
Daily/Weekly/Competition to competition Goals
Tie their daily goals into practice to develop toughness. Value of the goal is important.

21. Goal Staircase
Present Ability G1 G3 G4 G2

22. Goal Achievement Card Name: Date: Position: Years Experience:
Skill-Activity
Strong
Average
Needs Improvement
Specific Goal
Strategy
Target Date
Touches
Soft
Controlled
Quick
Shooting
Accuracy
Strength
Speed
Passing √
To correctly execute 8 out of 10 passes from the 10 – 15 feet range
Take 3 more practice passes every day from this distance
June 25th

23. Goal Setting in Training
Beginning of Practice
State the Coach/Athlete Goal for the Practice
Ask athletes to spend 1 minute thinking about how they will achieve the goal from their own position/role
Ask if anyone has any questions or concerns around today’s goal
During practice
Inquire on progress towards the goal with specific athletes
Provide feedback as required to help execute goal
End of Practice
Restate the goal for the day
Ask athletes to reflect on how they progressed towards the goal (depending on group you could ask them to share thoughts)
Ask athletes to record progress in journal

24. Pre - Competition Plan Last minutes before Performance
Pre-Performance Intensity (energy check)
Use Mood Words to reach desired feeling/energy level
Tense & Relax muscles
Confident statement
Mood Word (For the first action)
Pre-Game Routine
Comfortable activity as the first thing
Relaxation - visualization and self-talk
Isolation from personal distractions*
Parking
Review your goals for the performance
Warm – Up
Listen to music
Positive self-talk
Image/Feel
Review performance cue words
Energy check

25. In - Competition Plan Return Serve Routine
Return Serve Routine
Movement and position on your side of court
Relaxing breath
Evaluating previous point
Noting server’s positioning, getting into ready position
Cue word to keep mind in the present
Pre-Serve Routine Reviewing/Letting Go of the last point Pacing behind service line Locating ball Redirecting attention to strategy for next point Getting into serve stance Deep breath Imagery of serve Bouncing the ball a specific number of times Cue word to direct attention Executing

26. Post - Competition Plan: Debrief
What happened?
What mistakes did you make that taught you something?
Nothing? – then how do you challenge yourself in order to learn
What did you try hard at today?
What do I need to know/learn in order to be better?
Make a concrete plan on how to obtain it (goal setting)
When will you follow through on the plan?
Where will you do it?
How will you do it?
Use imagery regularly to see your plan coming into action.

27. Planning for Confidence
True self-confidence is ‘the courage to be open – to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source”.
Mindset = your readiness to grow
A reflection of perceived readiness
Testing your ‘learnings’ in challenging environments, having a plan, belief that you can get better
Confidence is built using the mental skills:
GS, imagery, competition plans, growth mindset.

28. Mia Hamm
“Mental toughness is the most important thing for a player to have; When 11 players want to knock you down, when you’re tired or injured, when the referees are against you, you can’t let any of it affect your focus. How do you to that? You have to LEARN how.”

29. The Final Word on Mental Toughness
It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one…
What you got to have is faith and discipline when you're not a winner.
Vince Lombardi