Mental Toughness In Sports

I believe that people are mentally tougher than they appear. Mental toughness is developed through every day challenges and it can come in a variation of ways. My personal experience is developing it through sports. Throughout my childhood, I did ballet, hip-hop, competitive cheer, gymnastics, softball, competitive basketball, competitive soccer, and ten years of competitive volleyball. I had to deal with a multitude of physical hardships and challenges that truly tested my mental toughness. Whether it was forgetting a dance move in the middle of a huge performance, dismounting off an apparatus and misfiring, striking out, missing the game winning free-throw, penalty kick, or serve, an injury, or just dealing with a coach’s temper. I learned …show more content…
My freshman year during soccer season, we were in the championship game at a tournament, we went to double overtime and it was into PK’s. I was the only freshman to shoot a PK on varsity, and I was extremely nervous. I had to block out the chanting crowd, ignore the freezing wind, and focus solely on turning my hips at just the right angle. My mental toughness allowed me to make the game winning PK. I knew I had to be mentally tough during state volleyball whenever I had a torn labrum in my right shoulder, tendinitis in my right rotator cuff, damage to my MCL and my LCL, and two bone bruises on my right knee-cap. Playing throughout the tournament proved to be quite a challenge, but I knew if I let my coach or anyone see even the slightest sign of pain, I would be benched. I had to be mentally tough because I was not 100% physically tough. My sporting career was not always the best, a lot of times I struggled with coaches bringing me down as a player and stressing me out to the max. I am now capable of learning from those experiences and it taught me how to deal with people who try to drag me down. It has allowed me to grow more stable emotionally and