Time management is one of the most difficult things (non-professional) athletes of all ages encounter. Starting in high school, or even middle school for some, the athlete’s day becomes a battle of competing interests between keeping up grades, practice, keeping up with sleep, and having some semblance of a social life. Balancing these activities can be another stress on itself, which leads us to the main question: Why would I devote extra time to mental performance when I could be doing some of these other things?

Mental performance is not a new concept in sports, but has been brought to light by some of the most high-profile coaches using it in the past couple of decades. Phil Jackson, who has won 11 NBA Championships, devoted practice time for each of his teams toward mental performance, focus, and relaxation under George Mumford, a sports psychologist. Even more recently, the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks spent considerable time during practices using mindfulness and other sports psychology-related techniques to improve their performance in games. They used mindfulness, imagery, and relaxation, under the supervision of sports psychologist Mike Gervais, to build more focus and improve their game as a team. Many teams now hire sports psychologists to help devote time to mental toughness and practice coping with the intense stress of games.

Most athletes have heard terms directly related to this stress and the negative impact on their game. Announcers love to use illustrative terms like “choking” or “he’s in his head!” Baseball also contains examples such as Chuck Knoblauch, a pitcher who lost the ability to accurately throw to first base and eventually moved to the outfield. As pressure has been show to have a huge negative impact on performance, sports psychologists work with athletes on ways to deal with this pressure, both on the field and off the field.

Sports psychology with athletes helps them work on strategies to improve focus by turning down that voice inside their head that creates the stress. There are studies across all areas of performance, not just athletic, that show negative self-talk can have a major impact on our ability to think and react. One of the major struggles athletes have in all sports is turning off this critical self and letting all of the training and hard work take over. Sports psychologists call this “flow,” and others have called in “in the zone” and other various terms. One of the main goals of mindfulness with athletes is opening up to this experience.

Sports psychologists also practice relaxation and imagery with athletes. Muscle tension, or “trying too hard,” often leads to errant throws, shots, putts, etc. Teaching relaxation can help athletes identify this tension and quickly return back to their ideal performance zone. Imagery, used more as a preparation technique, can help the athlete get “reps” in for a certain situation or play without requiring a court, field, or ball. Research has shown just the act of imagining, especially guided imagery using a variety of sensory input, can improve performance in various areas and activates the same areas of the brain that are active when performing the action in real life. Imagery can also be used to desensitize athletes to stressful situations that may come up in a game and is a common technique used in treatment of anxiety. If the brain is desensitized to stressful situations, athletes are able to keep their “fight or flight” system from activating and are able to use the full resources of their calm mind to approach the situation in the best possible manner.

Sports psychology helps athletes to balance both these in-game stresses and stresses outside of athletics. Many of these same techniques discussed in relation to sports can help our clients manage the stresses of relationships, school work, and promote healthier lifestyles that include better eating and sleeping. As sports psychologists, we believe that time spent focusing on these skills and strategies are not a waste at all, because they apply to every moment of the athlete’s life and have positive effects well into the future, past even most athletic careers.