Dropout rates are increasing amongst athletes in team sports (Keathley et al., 2013). While there may be some explanations that are less worrying, like kids wanting to try new hobbies as they go through adolescence, others are more under the control of parents, coaches, and even the athletes themselves.

Self-talk is essential to how you feel. How you feel, understandably, has quite an impact on your performance. So it makes sense that athletes should take care to rid the narrative of their mind from unnecessary and irrational criticism. Negative feedback, however, can be helpful. But you can easily understand how this gets out of hand quickly.

Why is emotional intelligence important for athletes? It leads to emotional regulation. We all know an athlete who is able to more efficiently emotionally regulate themselves (calm themselves down when they're in overdrive or enhance their focus and motivation, for example) are poised to perform better than those who cannot do so.

Albert Ellis is famous for conceiving irrational beliefs most, if not all, humans fall prey to during their lives. Let's examine some with the context of sports in mind; reframes will be provided below each irrational belief.

Psychological flexibility is a trait commonly used to describe athletes with a strong mental game. It’s something that is sought after by athletes new to their competitive career, ones who have been in it for years, and everyone in between. But, like many aspects of the mental game, despite it being commonly talked about, it’s difficult for many to understand what exactly it is.

Increase confidence by observing professionals, teammates, and competition. Understand what to look for that builds mental toughness, reduces self-doubt, and increases consistency.

Every athlete faces pressure that leads to performance anxiety, overthinking, self-doubt, and a lack of confidence. Learn 3 sport psychology tools to improve consistency, resilience, and mental toughness in this short article.

Are you more motivated by the task, aka the process, or your ego and how you compare to others? Learn what this means for an athlete, and how to be more internally motivated to experience less social anxiety in sports.

Your brain constantly spawns thoughts - positive or negative, that impact performance. Learn what to do when the mind only produces performance damaging thoughts so you can feel more confident and perform more consistently near your peak potential.

Mental reps is a popular phrase in sport psychology. In this article, learn how to enhance the quality of your mental performance training and get the most out of each mental rep.

Self-talk is everything in mental performance. Upgrade your mindset through positive, quality thoughts with specific ways to get there in this short article.

Every athlete experiences high stress, damaging their performance. It’s important to first become aware of one’s ideal level of stress, then know how to access it. In this article, learn the mental skill and science of breathing to manage your stress levels to perform more consistently.

Leverage what sport psychologists understand about momentum to enhance your mental game, no matter what the score is.