1. How to Get Your Athletes Mentally & Physically Ready
Kayte Mills
Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach
Post University

2. How to get your ATHLETE’S ready
MENTALLY

3. What is a good coach?
A good coach believes that individuals always have the answer to their own problems. They just need to help unlock them.
How can we do that?
We are always looking to get the best out of our athletes, today there are three ways to best accomplish this goal.

4. Coaching today Method Coaching Mentoring Counseling The Question: How?
What?
Why?
The Focus:
The present
The future
The past
Aim:
Improving skills
Developing & committing
to goals
Overcoming physiological barriers
Objective:
Raising Competence
Opening horizons
Building self-understanding
Coaching today is now made up of three major parts: coaching, mentoring & counseling.
Coaching: HOW – how can we physically accomplish our goals
- task oriented
- short term
- performance driven
- immediate messages
Mentoring: WHAT – the concept of what we need to do to succeed
- relationship oriented
- long term
- development driven
- message is indirectly involved
Counseling: WHY – diving into the deep explanation of why we do what we do and why it is important
- are we willing now as coaches to go a step further and counsel our kids?

5. What is MENTAL TOUGHNESS? how can you set the foundation?
Mental toughness is the capacity for an individual to effectively deal with stressors, pressures and challenges and perform to the best of their abilities regardless of the circumstances.
In other words, mental toughness is the quality which determines how people deal with these stressors, pressures and challenges.

6. Challenge
Is the athlete willing to accept the challenge and continue to develop?
Can the athlete perform under both flexible and predictable circumstances and do well in each type of situation?
2 parts to the challenge
Preparedness
See both good & bad situations as opportunities to learn
Lacrosse is a situational game and athletes need to be able to adjust to what is happening on the field in real time.
Those that are mentally ready for the challenge can handle both structured & unstructured situations
Preparedness – ability to work outside their comfort zone & take risks
See both good & bad situations as opportunities to learn – if part of the game is going badly do they have the mental toughness to learn from their mistakes & make the adjustment instead of grumbling?

7. commitment
Can the athlete push through challenges when things get rough?
Is the athlete motivated to do what’s asked of her/the team?
Is the athlete willing to do what it takes to accomplish her goals?
Is the athlete willing to do what it takes to accomplish the teams goals?
Those that are resilient can finish all tasks and not let things get in the way. In the women’s game there are a million different things that can get in the way.
How do we as coaches prepare them for this and get them to stay committed?
They need to be prepared for the commitment level to increase largely at the college level
They also need to be prepared to keep their commitment while balancing commitments to other things without their parents or other support systems to push them along

8. Life control Emotional control Physical control Situational control
In high school these girls are not in control of their life, they have their parents to help them on a daily basis. In college they need to be in control of their own lives and that is a huge jump in terms of maturity.
Now that they are on their own, can they manage their emotions with all the changes occurring? If they are over protected & coddled up until they are dropped off this is going to be a huge adjustment.
Do they have physical control in both training and competition to get the job done?
Can they be controlled when prepared for a situation? More so, can they be controlled when a situation changes and they need to adjust on the fly?

9. Confidence in your team Enduring criticism
Self – confidence
Confidence in your team
Enduring criticism
Do the athletes have confidence in themselves to achieve personal & team goals? Are they confident in their abilities on and off the field? How do we as coaches encourage this vs. discourage this?
How to we give them confidence when they show up deflated?
How can we give them the confidence to give their teammates confidence?
Can we help them maintain their confidence when they are criticized?
This needs to happen in order to succeed not only in college but in life
Can we help them maintain their confidence in tough situations?

10. Mental components to the college game
Classes
Study hall
Film
Rules education
Plays / field prep.
Not only do these athletes have to balance their classes and grades but they also need to be able to learn and study the game of lacrosse:
New rules
New plays
New defensive systems
Film on both their own team and the opponents
They need to have the mental capacity to remember all of these things and then apply them on the field
They also need to be prepared to balance their free time and time manage themselves. They are no longer in school for 6-7 hours, then to practice, then home to eat/shower/do homework then to bed. There are also no more parents to make sure they are doing all of the things they need to be doing.

11. How to get your ATHLETE’S ready
PHYSICALLY

12. Conditioning Strength Stick Skills How do your teams train?
What do your athletes do in and out of season regarding conditioning, strength and stick skills?
Are they ready for the amount of training that is involved in college?
Fall ball – typically 6 weeks of full practice & a competition
Off season training – D1 & D2 with coaches, D3 without coaches
In season starts in January – most programs 6 days a week
They need to be ready to handle 3-5 hours of lacrosse a day on top of school, work etc.

13. Thank you!