Mental Toughness in SportsBy John W. Creasy (Ph.D.), Roanoke College, Salem, VA; Richard K. Stratton (Ph.D.), VA Tech,Blacksburg, VA; Michael P. Maina (Ph.D.), Roanoke College, Salem, VA; Matthew P. Rearick (Ph.D.),Roanoke College, Salem, VA; and Kristen Reincke, Roanoke College, Salem, VA

O ctober 25. 1986... thehard-kick Boston RedSox has done it again.Leading the N.Y. Mets

three games to two in the WorldSeries, it blew the sixth game on ahorrendous error by their first hase-man. Bill Buckner, and then lost theseventh and deciding game (on theirown merits) the next day.

Believe it or not, it took the RedSox 86 years to win their ñrst WorldSeries since 1918! But that horren-dous error by Bill Buckner remainsunforgotten. On a clear day, you canstill hear the chattering from Boston:

"He blew it" ... "He lost his cool"... "Itwas just one of those things"..."Bnckjust never had that mental tough-ness..."

Wiat about mental toughness?Despite the fact that most coaches andelite athletes agree that mental tougli-ness plays a critical role in clutch situa-tions, it is still a concept that remainsdiffictill to define and teach, and itleads to the $64,000 question:

"Do coaches have the ability toassess and improve their athletes'capacities for mental toughness?"

There is an obvious need for defi-nition, intervention in. and evaluation

of the ciMisti uct. Before coaches canobserve mentally tough attiibutes intheir players, they must establish adefinition of the attributes that makesup the term.

Only then will the coach be able toproduce an instnimenl that will helphim recognize the mental strengthsand weaknesses of their athletes andto design their training programs tofit the needs of tlieir individual ath-letes and teams.

Since every athlete or team is dif-ferent, a canned comprehensiveapproach is tinlikely to develop themental training skills necessary for ihe

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COACHING Mental Toughness in Sports

most productive performances.Mental lougliness must be considereda crucial element of the practice andtraining activities.

Wliile many coaches use the phraseand acknowledge the importance ofmental toiiglincss, few attempts havel)fen made u> define or develop it.

A sttidy published in 1987 by Gould,Hodjff, Petei-son. &: Petlichkoff.explored the psychological foundationsof collegiate wrestling coaches. Thestudy indicated tliat over 90% of thecoaches felt thai sport psychologycotild assist them in their coaching.

82% of the coaches consideredmental toughness as the most impor-tant psychological attribute in deter-mining wresding success.

This lack of clarity and lack ofadvancement in the construct is note-worthy since mental toughness is oneof the most important psychologicalattributes necessary for attainingexcellence in sport.

In 1993, Gould. Eklund, & Jacksonstudied the coping strategies used by20 members of our 1988 Olympicwrestling team.

Their findings revealed that the dif-feretice between the medal winning

and non-medal winning wrestlers wasthat the medalists' coping stiategieswere more internalized and automa-tized than the strategies of the non-medalists. This finditig was significantbecause it distinguished between suc-cessful and unsuccessful athleteswhose levels of achievement wererelated to the development of psycho-logical skills.

These skills and attributes found inthe more successful athletes contributeto the definition of mental toughne.ss.

The phrase mental toughness stilllacks a universal working definition,though several sports psychologistshave attempted to distinguish the con-struct and the characteristics that areessential in becoming a mentallytough athlete.

In 2002, Jones, Hanton, &Connaughton endeavored to definedie term mental toughness. The fol-lowing definition was created:

"Mental touglmess is haung thenatural or developed psychologicaledge that enables you to:

• Generally cope better than youropponents with the many demands(competition, training, and lifestyle)

that sport places on a performer." Specilically, be more consistent and

better than your opponents inremaining determined, focused,confident, and in control underpressure.

This definition encompasses theessence of the phrase (mental tough-ness), yet [ones emphasized thai moreresearcli shouid be done in order tobetter understand the concept and itscrirical components, as well as its sub-stantial role in sport peribiTnance(Jones et al. 2002).

In 2006, ('reasy & Stratlon condtict-ed a study among 22 NCAA coaches.In Phase-One of the data collection,the 22 coaches completed a question-naire for the purpose of ranking themost important components of mentaltoughness and to what degree they feltthese components were teachable.

The questionnaire consisted of 20components of mental toughness, 12of wliich came from the 2002 [ones etal study.

The remaining eight were identifiedby C'al Ripken in a 2004 ptibücation(Stratton). In Pha.se-Two, 10 of the 22coaches were interviewed in order togain a more Ín<lepth undersLmding ofllie Phase-One research results.

The data showed that the followingcomponents were fundamental to thedefinition of mental unighness:

Having an unshakable self-beTieFin the unique qualities and abili-ties that make you better thanyour opponents.Strength: You have to be in goodphysical and mental condition. Youmust be psychologically and emo-tionally prepared.

3 Having an unshakable .self-helief inyour ability to achieve your compe-tition goals.

4, Have conviction: You have to he alittle bit stubborn.

5 Regaining psychological control fol-lowing unexpected, imcontrollahle

I events (competition specific).

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6. Have a strong will to succeed:Don't let setbacks slop you fromachieving your goal.

7. Remaining fully focused on thetask at hand in the face of competi-tion-specific distractions,

8. Be consistent; Recognize andadjust to change so that yon arealways able lo make a contributionto your team.

9. Not being adversely affected by oth-ers' good and bad performances.

10. Be competitive: It's not just aboutbeating your opponent. You haveto internalize competitiveness andtake pride in what you do.

11. Switching a sport focus on and offas required.

12. Personal management: Don't duckpotential problems; take on theprohlems directly to prevent smallproblems from building into big-ger problems.

!3. Thriving on the pressure of com-petition.

14. Take the right approach: Always beready to play.

15. Accepting that competition anxietyis inevitable and knowing that youcan cope with it.

16. Have passion for what you do.17. Having an insatiable desire and

internalized motives to succeed.18. Bouncing back from performance

setbacks as a result of increaseddetermination to succeed.

19. Remaining fully focused in the faceof personal life distractions.

20. Pushing back the boundaries ofphysical and emotional pain, while.still maintaining technique andeíTort under distress (in trainingand competition).

These characteristics were alsorated on their trainability in perform-ers. All but three components (4, 17,and 19) were considered to he train-able by the coaches.

Il is evident that thf term mentaltoughness includes a variety of attrib-utes and that it is incorrect to nse thephrase with words such as persever-ance, persistence, or determination.

The definition of the term rests ina combination of traits (Creasy &Stratton, 2006).

After a definition has been identi-fied, an instrument or inventory canbe designed so that coaches will beable to assess mentally tough (piali-ties in their athletes.

In past studies, Likert scales wereused to rank characteristics of mentaltoughness. These scales allow partic-ipants to associate a numerical valuewith an attribute and illustrate a par-ticipant's agreement or disagreetnentwith the importance of [he trait.

Being ahle to use a mental tough-ness inventory would gieatly aidcoaches in evaluating tnental toiigh-tiess in their athletes.Questionnaires have t)een used tosuit specific mental toughtiess studiessuch as in Goitld et al's PsychologicalFimndalions of Coaching: Simihiritifsand Dijferpîices Among IntercollegiateWrestling Coaches.

Instruments like the MnUalToughness Inventory by Middleton,Marsh, Martin, Richards, 8c Perry(2003) have also been developed toevaluate components of the con-struct, but no universal n)ethod hasbeen adopted and employed to date.

What coaches need is an instru-ment to assess the mental strengthsand weaknesses of their athletes.

As soon as an instrument has beendeveloped coaches will be able to puttogether specialized training routinesfor their athletes.

Since NCA.\ rules prohibit coach-es from practicing more than 20hours per week with their athletes,many do not take the time to devel-op mental training programs. Bitt.mental-skills training does not neces-sarily have to be time consuming; anumber of activities can be incorpo-rated with regular practice activities.

Intervening with positive thinkingis another easily integrated tech-nique. Players simply repeat positiveaffirmations such as "1 am strong" or"I like the challenge of competition"to boost self-esteem and confidence.

There are many ways in which coach-es can implement mental trainingprograms into their tiormal routineswithout taking away fiom v;iln;tbU'practice time.

Mental skills training is a crucialaspect of practice regimens for ath-letes of all levels and there is alwaysroom for improvement in mentaltoughness (Bull et al., 1996).

A mental toughness in;entorycould be useiul for recruitment pur-poses, as well. When coaches arerecruiting athletes, they not onlylook at present physical ability andknowledge of the game, but potentialability and prospective gains.

A study conducted in 2002 byDurand-Bush & Sahnela examinedfactors that contributed lo tlie devel-opment and continuation of expertathletic perloiinance.

Ten Olvmpic or World (Ihainpionswere interviewed on how certain fac-tors affected their performances ineach stage of their athletic careers.During ail fotn" stages (Sampling,Specialization, Itivestment, andMaintetiance), the athletes usedsome form of mental skills trainingto enhance their performances.

During the Maintenance years forexample, athletes used mental strate-gies such as visualization, goal set-ting, and positive self-talk in order toexpand upon their abilities. Eventhough the performers had reachedthe height of their careers, they con-tinued to push for improvementusing mental skills training (Durand-Bush & Saimela, 2002).

In examining what sort ofresearch exists (ni the constiuct andthe lack of precision concerning thematter, one theme is clear: Mentaltoughness is one of the most impor-tant attributes an athlete can possessin order to successfully perform.

If the majority of coaches trulybelieve in the value of mental tough-ness, it is troubling to know thatscarcely anyone is pursuing rest-archon the construct and its crucial rolein athletic performance. •

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