A common analogy is that sport skills form the legs of a triangle. One side is the technique demanded by the sport. Another side is the strength and conditioning required by the physical demands of the sport. The third side, or base, is the mental skills needed to successfully practice or perform in the sport.

So, how much of your sport is mental? Come up with a figure, I this question of all my athletes and coaches, and I get varied answers. So, just how much of your sport is mental? What do you think? Some people say, "It's 90% mental." Others say, "Oh, it's at least 70% mental." Answers range from 50-90 percent, and there is really no true answer.

This brings us to my next question, and it revolves around your answer. You came up with an answer to how much of your sport is mental. Now, I will ask you how much of your training time do you spend working on the mental side of your sport?

Oops! Most of my athletes find a little problem here. They say things like, "My sport is 90% mental, but I hardly ever spend any organized time on it." Now I may be a little slow, but if something is very important (say over 40% of your sport) then why don't you practice it?

The Reason are Many

Most people understand how technique and conditioning play important roles in the development of a total athlete. There can be little argument about that. Yet, when we hear coaches and athletes explain poor performances and unexpected losses we often hear another part of the equation mentioned. "We choked" "We were flat and unmotivated." "We weren't focused."

What Causes these Types of Responses?

How does someone choke? Be flat? Not be focused? The answer lies in an area of sport that is often ignored, misunderstood and sometimes feared... sport psychology. Sport psychology is the label we give to the study of the mental skills we use in sport. It is not magic, nor is it the secrets of deep inner thinking. It is just the idea that athletes think about sport as they practice, play, or live their everyday lives.

The big problem with mental skills is that the term "psychology" has developed a negative connotation. Because of the word, most people think sports psychology means fixing someone who is having mental problems, or diving deeply into someone's way of thinking to correct a problem. Yes, these are two things that we do with sport psychology, but they tend to be a small part of what coaches, athletes and consultants can do using sport psychology training methods.

Sports psychology is much more than that. Its number one use should be in educating athletes about how to think as they participate in sport. Unfortunately, the idea of educational sports psychology is new, and often suspect. For the interested, there are many ways to train them:

• Goal Setting
• Focus
• Motivation
• Self-talk
• Activation
• Stress control
• Evaluation and correction of training problems
• What to think as you warm up
• Ritualization
• What to think in specific situations (planning reactions)
• How to induce sleep when nervous
• How to fight the pain of fatigue
• Building a list of affirmations
• How to overcome negative thoughts
• How to handle situational stress
• How to motivate yourself for hard workouts
• How to get into the "zone"

As you can see, these are not techniques to fix broken athletes, these are ideas that we all need to know and use. As many coaches have pointed out to me, there is a real blur between mental skills training and plan "practicing." They are right. Mental skills training should be just part of our everyday training. This is pointed out by the ancient Chinese sword master, who posed the question, "Do the feet move the mind, or does the mind move the feet?"

It is hard to separate the two, physical and mental, but successful coaches and athletes do separate them, and work hard to develop a total approach. This total approach includes technique, conditioning, and mental skills.

So, if you are trying to develop a champion, or to become one yourself, you may want to broaden your use of the mental skills. It could help you get to the next level of performance that most of us are trying to reach.

Your Challenge

Do you include mental skills training as part of your organized program? You should. Take some time this season to "think about thinking." This can be uncomfortable. Athletes want to perform in a flow state. They want to do without thinking. But to do without thinking requires that you know the topic or subject so well you can go into automatic. This takes practice, so be patient. It will occur as you take in and learn the concepts. If you need some help leave a question at Ask the Coach. I will be in contact offering my ideas and assistance or feel free to e-mail me.

Editors Note: Beasey Hendrix is a nationally recognized expert on psychological preparation of athletes. He has presented numerous seminars at national gatherings and was the psychological skills coach for the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling teams. Beasey is one of 12 USA Gold level certified coaches in the country by USA Wrestling. He is the author of Wrestle to Win! and Your Perfect Match!, both books about the mental side of wrestling.