The Mental Game: How High-Level Athletes Remain Calm and Focused

The Men­tal Prepa­ra­tion of High-Lev­el Ath­letes (brief­ing paper by the Dana Foundation):

“Base­ball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra is cred­it­ed with say­ing that “90 per­cent of the game is half men­tal.” Over the years, the line has been appro­pri­at­ed beyond the world of base­ball to explain the impor­tance of fac­tors like focus and moti­va­tion to all high-lev­el ath­let­ic per­for­mance. Shan­non Miller, an Olympic Gold Medal­ist in gym­nas­tics, agrees that men­tal prepa­ra­tion is key to success—and she says she couldn’t have got­ten to the Olympics on phys­i­cal abil­i­ty alone. “The phys­i­cal aspect of the sport can only take you so far. The men­tal aspect has to kick in, espe­cial­ly when you’re talk­ing about the best of the best,” she says. “In the Olympic games, every­one is tal­ent­ed. Every­one trains hard. Every­one does the work. What sep­a­rates the gold medal­ists from the sil­ver medal­ists is sim­ply the men­tal game.” For the past few decades, sports psy­chol­o­gists have stud­ied the psy­cho­log­i­cal fac­tors that affect athletes—from begin­ners tak­ing part in their first team sports to elite ath­letes at the top of their field. Today, neu­ro­sci­en­tists are get­ting into the mix and attempt­ing to under­stand the brain’s role in that men­tal game.”

–> Keep read­ing:  The Men­tal Prepa­ra­tion of High-Lev­el Athletes

To Learn More:

• Cog­ni­tive Train­ing for Bas­ket­ball Game-Intel­li­gence: Inter­view with Prof. Daniel Gopher
• Enhanc­ing Trad­er Per­for­mance: Inter­view with Brett N. Steenbarger

Source of pic: Big­Stock­Pho­to.