Video: Top 10 Plays of the Year See the best and biggest moments of the 2018-19 year.
Resilience, or the ability to battle through adversity, is one of the most coveted characteristics in athletics. A player who stands up to challenges, bounces back after losses and takes hardship in stride improves any team they play for.
However, I regularly hear in general sports media that players either "have" resilience, or not. In fact, players develop resilience through practice, just like any other mental trait. Some stroll on to the field with natural resilience (the mental version of the naturally-gifted athlete), but most must develop it.
This is a long-term, complicated process, so don't take them for quick fixes. I encourage more research or connecting with a professional. Regardless, here are some brief overviews of several methods for building resilience.
Uplifting cultureRecently, I wrote about
culture of mastery. Creating a team culture where values include focus on improvement, mastery, self-esteem and self-belief. This type of culture can create resilience, as can other cultures that emphasize the process more than the results.
When the culture setters, such as coaches and captains, focus on effort and improvement rather than living on failures and successes, they allow others to concentrate on progress. While it is normal for players to experience negative emotions after losses or bad performances, these shouldn't break them. An uplifting culture, rather than one where players destroy each other after losses, creates more resilience.
As an aside, mentorship also develops resilience. Coaches should look out for players who might not have other sources of mentorship as those who could benefit the most.
Creating a team culture where values include focus on improvement, mastery, self-esteem and self-belief can help build resilience, writes Connor Hartley.
Photo by: Julie Brown
Players, especially young ones, personalize their mistakes. A bad performance can become a personal indictment of ability or self-worth, potentially leading to poor future performances.
If you're a player, remember that you are more than a single game or even a string of games. A bad game can't define you; you have much more going for you than whatever happened in that two hour block. If you're a coach or parent, remind players to take a balanced look at things and develop their identity outside of sports to help separate.
Look at the journey, not the current destinationImagine taking a connecting flight somewhere, getting off the first plane and saying, "How is it possible that I'm only in Denver when I'm supposed to end up in Portland? I give up!"
Ridiculous, right?
Is it any less ridiculous to have a poor performance and say, "How is it possible that I'm so bad when I'm supposed to be good? I give up!"
To me, that is equally ridiculous.
Few athletes in the history of sports have had their entire careers defined by one game. Why? Because there's always another game! A bad game or a hardship is simply a point along a journey, not a reason to give up. It's OK to be in Denver on your connecting flight to Portland, and it's OK to have a bad game on your way to a full career. Using this re-frame can assist a player in building resilience; there's always something new to look forward to.
MindfulnessThe buzzword of the health industry, mindfulness can assist in resilience building. Mindfulness involves living in the present moment, including experiencing emotions. Emotions are regarded as neutral, rather than positively or negatively. To emote mindfully, one must experience the emotions, notice them and allow them to pass without judgement.
Noticing painful emotions – like frustration, sadness or disappointment – is not wrong in of itself, as long as you allow them to pass without judgement. Experiencing emotions in this manner helps allow an athlete move forward from them. Regular mindfulness practice via meditation or other exercises can help create resilience.
VisualizationA favorite technique of coaches that can help establish resilience. Visualization allows players to walk through the script of their game, and see – in their mind's eye – both what to do and how to do it. They can picture themselves walking confidently, hitting their marks, correcting their mistakes, and more. The more player-specific the visualization, the better.
While visualization won't address the internal experience of the hardship itself, it offers an avenue for getting back on track. Therefore, use it in conjunction with more emotion-focused strategies (like the ones listed above) for greatest effect.
Connor Hartley is a mental performance consultant from Tacoma, Washington. He teaches mental skills to athletes, musicians, students and other types of performers, including elite athletes in soccer, basketball and golf. Hartley has a master's degree in mental health counseling with a focus in sport psychology from Boston University and a bachelor's in psychology from Loyola Marymount University. Reach him on Facebook (Hartley Performance) Twitter (@connorhartleySP) or via email at chartley@bu.edu.
