1. A Practical Guide to Mental Training
presented by
Dr. Frank Sassetti, PsyD, CPT

2. Today’s Goals
Learn the ultimate aim of Mental Training/Sport Psychology
Develop a better understanding of the depth and scope of Mental Training/Sport Psychology’s application
Walk away with practical skills and techniques you can actually use today! 2

3. Sport Psychology is ... Clinical v Educational (Mental Training)
Performance Enhancement Techniques
Post-competition Analysis
Recovery from Injury
Career Transition
Aiding Parents and Coaches 3

4. A 100 Year Old Story Germany, Early 1900’s
1st Clinic in United States at the University of Illinois
The Chicago Cubs?
Resurgence in the U.S. in early ’70’s 4

5. Only the most practical, effective and reliable methods from 100 years of research5

6. What Mental Training can do for You...
Confidence Building
Goal Setting
Emotion Regulation
Distraction Management
Motivation
Coping with Failure
HAVING FUN! 6

7. maximize success

8. minimize
failure 8

9. Failure WILL happen!
It is essential to understand this and learn how to cope with the
inevitable, i.e., failure.
That is the crux of Mental Training - how to overcome failure and achieve one’s dream, achieve greatness.
We must teach athletes to expect and embrace failure - to understand that it is natural and the only path to success.
How do we learn if we do not fail?
It’s what we do with the failure that really counts. 9

10. How do we cope with the inevitable?
Do we see it as an opportunity to improve on weaknesses?
Do we internalize it and define ourselves by the failure?
Do we use it to keep ourselves paralyzed and dig ourselves into a self critical hole? 10

11. Failure is a necessary step to success
Failure defines success. Without failure how would we know success?
Failure can lead to success only with the proper frame of mind.
And THAT’s what we teach our
athletes from the start.
How to build the mind set of a
champion with every step. 11

12. GOAL SETTING 12

13. It all starts with effective GOAL setting
Commitment
Direction
Feedback
Support
Effective training 13

14. Successful goal setting starts with a realistic assessment of skills and abilities
Many different methods of assessment
Performance profile
Role Modeling 14

15. Personal Performance Profiling
Quality
Ideal Level
Current Level
Discrepancy
Peak Level
Transition 10 7 3 8
Ability to Rally 5
Emotional
Control
Create a priority list of 3 target skills, any more will diffuse energy and focus 15

16. Role Modeling
Think of an athlete that has achieved what you would like to achieve.
List his/her skills, talents, attributes that have contributed to his/her successes
Rank those specific qualities like the Performance Profile
Compare your performance to the role model’s performance 16

17. s.M.A.R.T. goals S - Specific M - Measurable A - Adjustable
R - Realistic
T - Time Based

18. Choose controllable goals Write goals down Personalize goals
Review goals regularly
Celebrate goals achieved 18

19. CONFIDENCE BUILDING 19

20. Confidence begins with … a positive attitude2

21. A positive attitude may be the single most important variable to succeeding!
Confidence comes from feeling grounded in who you are - you trust yourself.
You have good feeling about about what you can do –
you have faith in yourself.
You think and feel positive about yourself.
This may actually mean REDEFINING who we think we are and ALLOWING ourselves to think positively about ourselves. 21

22. PERSONAL SPORT AFFIRMATIONS
All too often we focus on our fears and faults and less on our strengths, skills, talents and accomplishments.
PERSONAL SPORT AFFIRMATIONS 1
I am strong 2
I am confident in my ability 3
I can perform well in tough competitions 4
I train hard throughout the year 5
I have excellent endurance 22

23. Repeat the list OUTLOUD on a regular basis, at the very least once a day.
Once comfortable repeating the list, try using it during training and then competition.
This list is meant to be fluid, it may change and expand with new training challenges and/goals. 23

24. POSITIVE SELF-TALK 24

25. How we talk to ourselves dictates how we think and feel about ourselves and, ultimately, how we perform
Not only must we stop negative self-talk. we must replace it with POSITIVE self-talk. Without replacing it another will take its place, then we are stuck
Negative thoughts and feelings create a momentum which builds and saps our energy and motivation
Negative self-talk is rooted in the past and projects into the future (usually some disaster). We are distracted from what we need to focus on ... the immediate, the “here and now” 25

26. How to recognize negative self-talk
Judgement laden
Pessimistic
Emotional
Critical
Anxiety producing
Have to - Must - Should
Close ended
Surrenders control of success 26

27. What is positive self-talk?
Objective
Calming
Realistic
Directed
Optimistic
Motivating
Open ended
Regains control 27

28. Negative Examples and Positive Responses
“I can when I…”
“This is a challenge…” “When I…”
“I can…” “When I…” “I’ve trained…” “This is a challenge…” “I’m in control…”
“ I can’t ... “
“This sucks ...” “If only ... “ “I wish ... “ “I hope ...” “This is hard ...” “If ...”
(The official, coach, equipment, environment, time, teammate ...)
Personal affirmations and achievements can be used as responses 28

29. Imagery 29

30. An often misunderstood and misused tool
Imagery uses all senses - Touch, Smell, Taste, Hearing, not just Visualization
Emotions and Thoughts, as well
Imagery includes the sense of movement and where the body is in space
Actually creates Muscle Memory

31. Imagery basics Find a quiet place and relax Use all your senses
At first keep your images simple
Keep the time short, minutes
Control your images
“Feel” what you are imaging

32. Look at what is around you - the colors, objects, equipment
Notice who is there and what they are doing
Look at what people are wearing, what you are wearing
Notice the sounds - people talking, equipment being used ...
Feel what it’s like to be there - temperature, body sensations
Feel your body move
Take in the smells
What are you feeling emotionally
What are you thinking 32

33. Add movement and feel yourself moving around
Imagine yourself performing a skill in your sport
Move on to imagining yourself practicing or competing 33

34. STAYING FOCUSED 34

35. Distraction Management
Actually plan for distractions
Recognize internal and external distractions:
thoughts, emotions, physical sensations
Develop cues to refocus and motivate:
verbal, physical, visual, mental ...
Develop routines and rituals
Focus on basics, not perfection
Focus on execution, not results 35

36. Cues and Thought Stopping
1st, One must recognize the “negative” cues:
Negative self-talk
Physical feelings
butterflies
tingling
muscle tension
“heat” ...
Emotions
anger
fear
anxiety
apathy 36

37. (Cues and Thought Stopping, cont’d)
2nd, Use thought stopping technique to interrupt the distraction followed by positive self-talk
Verbal Cues:
“focus, focus, focus ...”
“breathe, relax”
“I’m in control”
“Let go ...”
Mantra
Cognitive Cues:
Mental time out
Imagery
Physical Cues:
Breathing
Shaking it off
Looking away
Rituals 37

38. Rituals and/or Routines Routines and Rituals are series of behaviors performed in a prescribed order which:
help athletes block out internal/external distractions by giving them something to focus on
help calm the athlete by providing familiarity which helps normalize the situation, assisting in calming the athlete
provide consistent set of behaviors which creates a sense of stability for the athlete.
can be used for pre and post competition 38

39. Celebration is Necessary and Essential!
Remember that all of this starts with a positive attitude. What’s a better way to maintain a positive attitude than sharing and celebrating one’s success and achievements?
If you don’t celebrate your success, who will? 39

40. Just a few more tips ...
If you really believe in mental training then you must commit to it
Establish the appropriate structure to your mental training plan just as you would any other aspect of your training
- Add mental training to your calendar
- Schedule time you know will not be interrupted
- Choose a time you will always be able to train regardless of change
in daily routine, i.e., travel, work, competition …
Build your program slowly
Integrate mental and physical training
Record your progress
Update and review your mental training regularly
Recruit help from others 40

41. Thank you for your time and attention!
Dr. Frank Sassetti, PsyD, CPT
Text 41