Every week we take a few minutes to ask our players a question. The question is often directed toward self-awareness in the hopes our players will take the time to listen to their internal voices. All personal development starts with self-awareness.
Last week I asked them to write their definition of mental toughness. There were some great definitions.
"The will and power to push past the doubt in a situation and believe that obstacles are mere challenges."
"The toughness in your mind when your body is past the point of exhaustion and your mind takes control and pushes you forward. It is also being able to move on to the next play with no reaction or thought."
"Mental toughness is staying calm in pressure situations, is getting up after you fall, and is adapting to any situation no matter the adversity."
"To me, mental toughness is when you have nothing left and you're fighting yourself and your mind to think and be positive. Also, it is not allowing anything negative to enter your mind."
After they had written their definitions, I asked them to rate themselves on a scale of one to five with one being the lowest and five being the highest. I was pleased the seniors all rated themselves as a four. A five rating would have been better but a four means they believe in themselves. The others . . . well they were not as confident. They still need to see themselves in a different light. They still need to believe they can achieve.
It is all a matter of the mind!
What I would like to see in each player is the ability to recognize their negative thoughts, to work on replacing them with positive thoughts and to know the power which comes with this process. Negative thoughts are limiting. They have no place for players who want to be mentally tough.
Negative thinkers expect the worst, place the blame on others, fail to trust themselves or others, take on a poor me attitude and cannot see they are responsible for creating what they are experiencing. Due to the way they think, they feel hopeless, worried, fearful, angry and frustrated.
Positive thinkers look for the best in all situations, seek solutions, seek help from others, know what they want and have a plan, and are willing and ready to receive inspiration. They find joy, happiness, success, achievement and fulfillment.
Mental toughness is not something players are born with; it is something they receive from their beliefs. The great thing is every player has the ability to control her mind. It is as simple and as complex as that.
Not one player who thinks she cannot do something ever achieves it. NOT ONE! This is the mind talking. This is controllable.
What I want from every player is her willingness to listen to what she tells herself, to stop the negative thoughts from getting in her way, and to replace them with positive thoughts. When she is able to do this, she is mentally tough and the court is hers to own.
ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.
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1 comment:
I read this and it equals me out to a tee. I played a game on sunday, I let negative thoughts slip into my mind and things got out of control. I didn't trust myself as well as others because mentally I had already checked out of the game. My question is after the negative is already in there how do you get them out?
I got frustrated and things went from bad to worse I dissapointed myself and can't come to my senses to trust myself yet. I'll admitt at this point I have very low mental toughness, how do you bounce into the positive is my question?
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