What is the key to mental fitness? Self-awareness! As young athletes and sports students begin to understand why they think and feel the way they do. As they become more aware of their beliefs, perceptions and habits, they become enabled to change.The growth comes as they couple this self-awareness with the understanding of how these things can be changed to move them closer to where they want to be.For example, one young athlete I worked with in football identified that he experienced more anxious feelings in training than he did in a match. This was really impacting his development. After some sessions we were able to identify how he could change this whole experience. Another elite youth swimmer was using the same race plan for different races, once we analysed each race she was able to optimise not only her performance but enjoyment of training, and all her races.Mental fitness empowers young people to be mentally tough in high pressure situations. It trains them with the tools that they need to have good mental health in life, have control of their wellbeing and optimise their performance in their sport and studies so they can move closer to achieving success, whatever that looks like to them.
