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In preparation for the 12th African Games in Rabat, Morocco |19 August 2019

Mental toughness gives you an edge over your opponents

 

Are you an athlete preparing for the African Games in Rabat, Morocco from August 19-31, 2019?

What have you done to get an edge over your competitors?
Maybe you have tried all sorts of things to improve your performance: supplements, new recovery regimens, athletic diets, improved training methods, increased practice sessions and mental toughness training.

All these things can aid athletic performance but there is only one that gives you an edge in pressure situations… and that is MENTAL TOUGHNESS.

Diet, recovery and physical training can only take you so far. These physical components prepare your body to compete at a high level but pressure situations require strength of mind to meet the mental challenges inherent in those critical circumstances.

Mental toughness gives you an edge in many ways:

● It helps you push through the physical and mental barriers when you feel exhausted towards the end of a competition. If you are mentally tough you still can find fuel in an empty tank to carry on. The women’s national volleyball team proved it at the 10th Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG).

● Toughness conditions your mind to maintain a laser focus amid all the potential distractions that arise when competitive pressure increases.

● Toughness helps create stable confidence so you can perform at your peak against top competitors.

● It helps you to keep your composure when intense emotions start to stir in the heat of battle. 

● Its training gives you the ultimate edge over the competition.

For example, mental toughness was the key to victory for Novak Djokovic, one of the top tennis players in the world, in his final match at Wimbledon against Roger Federer.

The match was an epic battle that lasted for four hours 57 minutes with Djokovic winning 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12.

It is well known in tennis circles that Djokovic engages in mental training daily, including visualisation on a regular basis.

 DJOKOVIC: “I obviously try to play the match in my mind before I go on the court… I always try to imagine myself as a winner. I think there is a power to that.”

Djokovic talked about how his mental toughness training helped prepare himself for the final set after four hours of intense competing.

DJOKOVIC: “Also there has to be strength that comes not just from your physical self, but from your mental and emotional self. For me, at least, it's a constant battle within, more than what happens outside. It's really not the situations that you experience that are affecting you, but how you internally experience those situations, how you accept them, how you live through them.”

Success under pressure requires a great deal of mental toughness.

Mental toughness training is valuable for all athletes in all sports in all different types of circumstances.

If you are to succeed under pressure, then be sure to add mental toughness training to your daily regimen.

Mental toughness in pressure situations:

Add visualisation to your daily training regimen. Set aside 10-15 minutes a day to visualise different pressure situations you'll encounter during competition.

The five simple breathing techniques

1. Take a deep breath and allow your face and neck to relax as you breathe out,

2. Take a second deep breath and allow your shoulders and arms to relax as you breathe out,

3. Take a third deep breath and allow your chest, stomach and back to relax as you breathe out,

4. Take a fourth deep breath and allow your legs and feet to relax as you breathe out,

5. Take a fifth deep breath and allow your whole body to relax as you breathe out,

6. Continue to breathe deeply for as long as you need to, and each time you breathe out say the word relax in your mind’s ear.

Rehearse how you want to respond. See yourself coping well with your skills in your sport. Feel how you would feel in certain situations and how you will respond with composure and focus.

The more you anticipate and cope with how you will respond well to pressure, the more comfortable it will be to perform in those situations.

 

Maurice Denys (Mr)                                                                                                              

Certified Mental Coach (CMC)

S.N.H.S.Dip (Sports Psychology)                                                  

S.N.H.S.Dip (Life coaching)

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