Mental health struggles in athletics are more common among athletes than you think, yet when it comes to talking about mental health in sports, it often gets swept under the rug. The mental challenges in sports are overshadowed by the physical performance and statistics. Practice to both the physical and mental sides of sports creates a needed balance, which ultimately leads to success.
“Just as athletes work on their physical strength in their sports, they also need to train their mental game. Younger athletes learning about mental skills and how important they are early on will help them develop into the athletes and people they want to be down the road,” discussed Adler University intern Darcy Barkal. “Ultimately, the goal is to help students build mental skills that can carry over beyond athletics so they can grow both as performers in their sport and as people.”
ETHS athletics, directed by Chris Livatino, has really implemented and encouraged mental skills practice among student athletes over the past few years, working with interns from Adler University to promote more work on the mental side of the game. ETHS does provide other mental health resources for student athletes outside of the team mental skills practice, including The Mental Edge Academy from the AEA institute and 1-on-1 sessions with sports psychology interns from Adler University. Despite the supportive resources, many remain underused due to a lack of awareness and willingness among student athletes.
“If you really want to be successful at sports at an elite level, there’s no doubt you have to train your brain to be competitive, to thrive in the most difficult of situations,” Livatino emphasized. “And I think when you see teams and student athletes struggle, it’s not physical, it’s usually the mental side they collapse in.”
The Mental Edge Academy is a personalized mental skills program that is customized to each athlete to improve mental performance, confidence and focus. Additionally, this program uses Neuro-Linguistic Programming and positive psychology to strengthen the mental side of the game and help break through mental barriers.
“The mental skills practiced throughout the sports world and at our internship are based on a model developed by Dr. Robin Vealey. This model includes 4 sets of skills: foundation, performance, personal development, and team.” Explained Barkal, “Within each of these 4 groups of skills come subskills such as motivation, self-awareness, energy management, attentional focus, etc. This model provides a roadmap for holistic athlete development and mental training.”
Interns from Adler University are assigned to a specific sports team to connect on a more personal level with the student athletes as a team and individually. The interns attend practices, games and host their own lunch meetings with the teams to get a better understanding of the game and the athletes. Through this, skills are able to be identified and tailored to the team and athletes, making the sessions interactive and relevant to the athletes.
“I am implementing tools that can help students perform at their best, not just in sports but also in school and everyday life. That includes goal-setting, building confidence, managing pressure, staying focused, and developing resilience after mistakes or setbacks.” Barkal elaborated, “A big part of the work we do is helping students become more self-aware of their thoughts and learn how to respond to challenges in a productive way.”
