Mind & Matter: How Mental Health Affects Your Sports Performance on the Big Day
GUEST POST BY CLAYTON HUTCHINS
Every day is another day to practice for the next big day for many athletes. It is important to prepare ourselves to perform at our best, or at the very least, better than our last performance. We push our bodies to their current limits to overcome them for a new record, new score, a new technique that allows us to either score or deny the opponent a score. We have been taught for years that limits were made to be broken, that we can push our bodies to be more effective than they currently are, and so we push, “mind over matter,” as they say. However, there is a mental piece that seems to be missing from these evaluations of the self before, during and after a performance. Mental preparation is just as effective and important as the physical while preparing for your big day and can improve your performance when it really matters. We have Houston sports therapists who can help you work on your mental game.
How Does Mental Health Impact Preparation and Performance
Mental health touches on every single aspect of our lives, from the thoughts we hear in our head, to the way we interpret interactions with the world around us. Game day is no exception to this. Performance anxiety is a factor that many athletes deal with on a daily basis, and these effects are multiplied when the pressure is on to put all the practice to the test. It is possible for anxiety to grip our minds and cause us to slip up on our performance. We become so focused on not messing up, that we psyche ourselves out of performing at our best, and thus it impacts our results. However, a little bit of anxiety is actually known to be beneficial when the pressure is on. Therefore, learning how to utilize that small amount of anxiety to push yourself can be extremely impactful on how you perform on your big day.
Mindfulness: Maintaining Conscious Awareness in the Present
One such concept that allows us to utilize this anxiety is known as Mindfulness, defined as a mental state that is achieved by focusing on one’s awareness in the present moment, acknowledging and accepting one’s current state of being (emotional state, physical state, mental state etc.) and is commonly used as a therapeutic technique. Here are some methods of utilizing Mindfulness in the realm of sports and beyond:
1. Mindful Movement:
As athletes, every movement has a purpose, no matter the size. Some sports require bigger, more noticeable movements and others require very small, intricate movements; all play an equally important role in performance. Maintaining awareness of each movement connects the body and mind in a very special way, essentially communicating from one to the other a real-time evaluation of their state of being. This is very effective in enhancing your performance.
2. Deep-Breath Meditation:
As athletes, it is known that breathing is an extremely important source of energy that fuels your muscles when you are performing. You can find breath control techniques spanning across various sports such as swimming, running, canoeing and even archery. Many utilize deep breathing to calm severe anxiety levels, thus allowing for more mental space to focus on the target at hand. If you are feeling overwhelmed by an upcoming performance, take a step back and focus on your breathing.
3. Grounding Techniques:
Keeping our mental space tied to our physical reality is sometimes more difficult than we ever thought possible. Sometimes our thoughts move too fast for us to process, and it becomes extremely overwhelming. Grounding techniques are meant to serve as an anchor for our mind to latch onto reality. Grounding techniques include taking in your surroundings through your senses. One such technique is the Five Senses Technique in which the individual is asked to identify 5 things they see, 4 things they hear, 3 things they can feel, 2 things they can smell, and 1 thing they can taste, with a deep breath in between each bodily sense. This technique is very effective in reorienting a person’s mind back to their current moment. Another technique that is especially effective with athletes is visualization meditation in which an individual focuses on specific parts of the body for a set period of time from the soles of their feet all the way to the top of their head. This technique in particular is effective in enhancing awareness of pain and the emotions tied to said pain.
4. Visualization:
Our minds can become very clogged with anxious thoughts, almost as though we are a fish and anxiety is a hook, never releasing us. There are many instances where athletes feel a level of guilt because they are either not preparing for their next performance, not meeting the expectations of their coaches or themselves, or they are underperforming when compared to other athletes. These intrusive thoughts become very critical, and it becomes very easy to give in to their negativity. Visualization is a method that utilizes symbolic images. One such technique is the visualization of an individual watching a highway. Each car represents a single thought running through the individual’s mind. When our thoughts are clogged up, the highway has severe, bumper-to-bumper traffic. Instead, the individual can allow thoughts to flow naturally, visualizing an open highway with no traffic, letting thoughts come and go, preventing oneself from getting hooked on anxious thoughts.
5. Nature’s Natural Touch:
Taking time to sit outside with no distractions (podcasts, music etc.) and take in the scenery with all 5 senses allows for a connection many forget exists in our current society. Touching grass, hearing the wind, smelling flowers, seeing a sunset; all forms of connecting to the natural world around us, healing us in near unexplainable ways. For athletes this could be a 5-minute break they needed in between sets, or a pre/post walk to orient their mind to their desired mental space. Regardless, nature has a lot to give.
What comes after my performance?
Reflection is one of the most important skills athletes must learn to effectively grow post- performance. It requires a delicate balance of criticism and understanding. Mindfulness is effective in teaching athletes how to achieve this tricky balance. Allowing yourself leeway on mistakes is important when situations are out of your hands, and it is important to critically look at what was in your power and make notes to correct for future performances. Sitting with frustrating feelings and allowing your mind to process them are very important. It is just as important to allow your successes to sit with you as well. By strengthening your mental processes, you can become a more well-rounded and experienced athlete pushing for higher success. Call our Texas sports therapists today to help you improve your mental game so you can improve your performance.
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OTHER THERAPY SERVICES WE OFFER IN HOUSTON, TX
We have other mental health services that we offer at our Houston, TX counseling office. Our services are available for adults, children, and teens. For individuals, we offer Anxiety Treatment, Couples and Marriage Therapy, Divorce Counseling, Infertility Counseling, Perinatal and Postpartum Treatment, Teen Counseling, Parenting Counseling, and Family Therapy. As well as Eating Disorder Therapy, School and College Counseling, Trauma Therapy, PTSD Treatment, EMDR Therapy, Chronic Pain Therapy and LGBTQ+ Counseling. Our caring therapists also offer Career Counseling, and LPC Supervision. All of these services are also available through Online Counseling throughout Texas.
Our Houston sports counseling therapists at Wilson Counseling are here to help you strengthen your mental resilience and optimize your performance when it matters most. Whether you're facing pre-game anxiety, struggling with focus, or working through self-doubt, we provide the support and strategies you need to perform at your best. You don’t have to do this alone—let us help you develop the mental edge to succeed.