Physique and intense training alone will not produce elite level athletes. For the first 100 years of competitive endurance sports success was thought to be a direct result of training and physical attributes. Recently, psychologists discovered the weight of mental attitude on sports performance is even more important than physical strength. Athletes all over the world face mental challenges with their sports every day, but only the athletes that can overcome each challenge reach the highest level. Mental attitude is the key to becoming an elite level athlete.
A successful mental attitude is more complex than simply being an optimist, there are many other components that determine an athlete’s level of success. Mental attitude towards a certain …show more content…
Coping is a response to stress and discomfort. It is part of the human survival instinct, and it forces humans to cope with the situation at hand. There are ways to cope with difficulties involving training and racing that are healthy and will help athletes on their way to the elite level. For example, when an athlete is training and at their breaking point they can think about an elite level athlete and picture themselves beating them to the finish, all because of the set they are working through. This will motivate the athlete to work harder to achieve their dream. Similarly, there are bad ways to cope with training or racing. Faking an injury to get out of a training set or a race will negatively affect the athlete’s training and path to becoming an elite athlete. Usually, after an athlete fakes an injury once, they get into a pattern of making new excuses to get out of training. Soon, the athlete is missing hours of training, and they suffer mentally and physically. In order to be successful athletes must take their fate into their own hands and force themselves to deal with the discomfort that comes with sports, it is the only thing that will change their perception of effort. Athletes have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, as coping is a response to stress and discomfort (Fitzgerald,
A successful mental attitude is more complex than simply being an optimist, there are many other components that determine an athlete’s level of success. Mental attitude towards a certain …show more content…
Coping is a response to stress and discomfort. It is part of the human survival instinct, and it forces humans to cope with the situation at hand. There are ways to cope with difficulties involving training and racing that are healthy and will help athletes on their way to the elite level. For example, when an athlete is training and at their breaking point they can think about an elite level athlete and picture themselves beating them to the finish, all because of the set they are working through. This will motivate the athlete to work harder to achieve their dream. Similarly, there are bad ways to cope with training or racing. Faking an injury to get out of a training set or a race will negatively affect the athlete’s training and path to becoming an elite athlete. Usually, after an athlete fakes an injury once, they get into a pattern of making new excuses to get out of training. Soon, the athlete is missing hours of training, and they suffer mentally and physically. In order to be successful athletes must take their fate into their own hands and force themselves to deal with the discomfort that comes with sports, it is the only thing that will change their perception of effort. Athletes have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, as coping is a response to stress and discomfort (Fitzgerald,