How Can Athletes Develop Their Resilience
To be a successful athlete, there is no more important mental skill to have other than mental discipline to overcome a setback and stay focused on the process of competing. Here are some actions for athletes to complete that will help them with their resiliency.
Start seeing resilience as something they can develop and improve.
Work on developing coping strategies (ie. actions after an error, loss or when you get taken out of a game).
Build a list of “resilient” qualities.
Only think about and work on things within your control.
Your athletic skills
Your mental skills
Your daily schedule- (fuel, sleep, etc)
Challenge yourself- enough to see if you will fail.
Get outside of your comfort zone.
Things that are difficult.
Things that you have never done.
Anticipate what is next.
Next play, next game, next week
Build positive relationships.
Teammates and coaches.
A support group off the field, outside of your sport.
Have a routine that allows you to learn about mistakes.
Reflect on what has helped you overcome setbacks in the past
No judgments.
Growth mindset.
Praising athletes on talent encourages a fixed mindset while praising people on effort encourages a growth mindset.
