Blog - Page 3 of 6 - Headstrong Mindset LLC

The Power of Gratitude in Sport

What is Gratitude?

The impact of gratitude in sport is often overlooked by players and coaches. Gratitude is so much more than just a temporary feel-good emotion in response to counting your blessings. Gratitude has the potential to be a consistent character trait developed with intentionality over the course of a season or a lifetime.

The term gratitude comes from the Latin word “gratia” which means thankfulness or gratefulness . “The gratitude muscle is like any other muscle, in that it must be flexed periodically to remain strong”. The key takeaway here is that you can cultivate gratitude and become a more grateful person, athlete, and teammate by treating gratitude like a skill you train in your sport. In other words, the more you practice gratitude, the more naturally and consistently it will come to you.

[Read more…]

The difference between superstition, rituals, and routines

Confidence, Flow & Playing in the Zone

Athletes, coaches and sport fans often mistake the difference between superstition, rituals and routines. If you’ve ever watched Rafael Nadal serve, you’ve probably noticed his methodical repertoire of hand gestures and movements. From touching the back and front of his shorts, then his shoulders, nose, ears, and eventually his thighs. In his autobiography, Nadal writes, “Some call it superstition, but it’s not. If it were superstition, why would I keep doing the same thing over and over whether I win or lose? It’s a way of placing myself in a match, ordering my surroundings to match the order I seek in my head.” In sports it is critical for athletes and coaches to understand and distinguish the difference between superstitions, rituals, and routines.

[Read more…]

Spotlight on Athlete Vulnerability

Self-care

Athlete vulnerability is not a topic that we hear much about as athletes, coaches and sport performance consultants. Athletes are typically encouraged to be “mentally tough”, to “push through the pain”, and gratefully make personal sacrifices for the “good of the team”. But at what cost? Where is the line? Where are the guard rails protecting the athletes in a competitive culture that prioritizes winning over mental health and gives coaches the authority to torture athletes in pursuit of victory?

[Read more…]

The Confidence Continuum

Confidence, Flow & Playing in the Zone, Imagery

How do you build your confidence in sports? Athletes often come seek out sport psychologists because their confidence is too low. Many athletes, especially female identifying athletes, express concern that they will be perceived as ‘arrogant’ or ‘not a team player’ if their confidence is too high? The gender confidence gap is real, and it impacts many female athletes and women’s sports teams today.

One of the biggest misconceptions about confidence in sports is that most athletes and coaches think confidence is simply the belief in one’s ability to win or succeed. The problem with this definition of confidence is that it’s too narrow and often leads to a simplified “yes or no”, “you either have it or you don’t” type of thinking, when in fact confidence is much more complex.

[Read more…]

Deconstructing Perfectionism in Athletes (and Coaches)

Growth Mindset, Self-care

Perfectionism is characterized by unrealistically high expectations of self and a tendency to be over critical of one’s performance (Madigan et al., 2016). Within the last decade, the number of research studies conducted on perfectionism in sports has increased significantly (Vicent, Sanmartín, Vásconez-Rubio, and García-Fernández, 2020). In 2005, Flett and Hewitt coined the term “perfectionism paradox” to describe how the environment of competitive sports encourages perfectionism in athletes (Flett & Hewitt, 2005). Since the emergence of Covid-19, researchers Flett and Hewitt are now referring to the phenomenon of widespread rates of perfectionism among athletes as a “perfectionism pandemic”.

[Read more…]

Imagery: The Action Happens in Your Mind

Concentration, Flow & Playing in the Zone, Imagery

Imagery is a mental skill that allows athletes to mentally rehearse in their minds using their five senses to imagine or replay the desired experience . The aim of imagery is to train your mind and body to feel calm under pressure situations and influence the outcome of events. Athletes can use imagery to picture what it will look, feel, and sound like to compete under pressure in front of loud spectators and in specific competition arenas. The action happens in your mind.

[Read more…]