The pursuit of excellence has brought many athletes closer to sports psychology. Driven by the desire to enhance not only the physical, but also the mental, several professionals have turned to this type of support to increase the likelihood of delivering exceptional performance.
In the last 20 years, mental training has become part of the preparation carried out to compete in major competitions, such as the World Championships and the Olympics. In the 60′s it was thought that the secret to winning medals was the mastery of the best technique but it was discovered that alone was not enough and that if the results were not coming it was because you were not physically prepared.
So in the 70′s physiologists came to the fore: they analyzed the physical demands of sports and provided programs to make the athletic condition more adequate. Despite this type of preparation many athletes with excellent physiques, athletic condition and technique continued to fail. This also determined a characterization of the sport activity in professional terms, a full-time preparation at the highest levels of technical and physical preparation and the result was a greater homogeneity of performance.
In the 80′s experts began to think that human psychology could play a central role in promoting success, what the Americans called the mental advantage. Today we know that with equal technical ability and athletic preparation, the difference is in the head-that is, 80% of success is mental. There is a positive circular relationship whereby an optimal mental condition allows for the best performance and the success achieved develops a positive mental approach to performance.
The main skills used by top level athletes can be summarized as follows:
- Ability to manage competitive stress through self-regulation of activation and emotional levels.
- High level of self-confidence and, in particular, perceive themselves as being able to cope with the most intense competitive situations.
- Ability to set short and long-term goals that are challenging and attainable.
- Ability to focus only on those things essential to performance.
- Ability to refocus quickly after a negative phase or mistake.
- Perceive oneself as determined and committed to achieving goals.
- Having a positive dialogue with oneself, being accustomed to leading oneself in an affirmative manner (telling oneself exactly what needs to be done, never thinking about what doesn’t need to be done).
- Taking care of your mental and physical well-being.
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