Give yourself a mental edge

“Ninety percent of the game is half mental.” — Yogi Berra

Every elite athlete I know agrees with Yogi’s observation. After all, there is a limit as to how much strength, cardio and agility conditioning a human body can physically endure.

Throughout time athletes have striven to break speed and strength barriers. In fact, that desire led to the first Olympics, in 1896. Physical capabilities, though, are ultimately restricted by scientific laws (physics, thermodynamics and biomechanics). However, thanks to relatively recent advances, neuroscientists are beginning to access the mysteries of the human brain. By training one’s brain, in ways that are aligned with scientific advances, athletes can enhance their athletic performances.

In 1996, when I lived in Colorado, I was invited to travel to China as a player on the first North American women’s ice hockey team to compete in Asia. We were considered “guinea pigs” for the U.S. Women’s National Team that would play in Harbin (the location of the only rink in China at that time) in preparation for the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Since I was older than our opponents and knowing that this was my one chance to compete internationally, I wanted to be in top condition.

I trained hard that summer in Colorado. I spent my days running up stretches of Aspen Mountain with an inner tube filled with sand draped over my back, mountain biking over 13,000-foot passes, shooting hundreds of pucks against a chalk hockey net I designed on a tennis backboard, and working out in the gym. I wanted, however, to gain another advantage beyond my physical training. So I sought help from a psychologist who specialized in mental training for athletes. The scientifically validated skills I learned elevated the ones I had naturally developed on my own, such as rudimentary goal-setting and visualization. I was hooked from the start.

Today, young athletes have a greater opportunity to enhance their skills earlier in life than ever before. In the mid-1970s, when I first started playing hockey for the Natick Eagles, one of the first girls hockey teams in Massachusetts, sport psychology was considered foreign, something that only the Eastern European athletes practiced. North American coaches and athletes generally looked down on sport psychology, often judging it as a program for deficient athletes. In fact, I can’t imagine that any young athlete I knew at the time had even heard about sport psychology.

Times change, though. As the stakes around sports increased, elite athletes became more interested in adding skills that could improve their performance. Over time, that interest has spread to athletes in colleges, high school, middle school and even elementary school. Just as hockey players seek to gain the edge in their skating and shooting skills and physical conditioning, increasingly athletes are eager to learn ways to gain a mental advantage.

Why do athletes train their brains?

With all the time athletes commit to becoming better players and performing at higher levels, why wouldn’t they want to improve the skills that are going to elevate their game performance and extend their athletic careers?

Exercise: Can you think of a time when you played “in the zone?” In other words, you played your ‘A’ game, connecting all your passes, skating powerfully, hitting the open corners of the net. Aside from feeling focused and confident, maybe there were moments when your performance felt easy and things seemed to move in slow motion. Imprint that memory.

Now, reflect on a time when you felt off. Perhaps you felt distracted (either by something in or outside your head), your passes were off target, your energy was low. Basically, you couldn’t get out of your own way. Imprint that memory.

Most likely, this sharp difference in your performance had less to do with your training, conditioning or skill level and more to do with factors related to your levels of concentration and confidence.

Train like a NWHL or NHL player

While all athletes are unique and have their own ability levels, they can further develop their mental skills. As I share with my hockey clients, every player — including top NWHL/NHL players — can benefit from continuing to train their brains. Increasingly, professional and college teams are hiring licensed psychologists to help their players improve. Like strength conditioning and skill training, mental skills are developed in the offseason, consistently utilized during the season, and then, most critically, during high-pressure situations, like the Olympics, nationals, NCAA tournament, Isobel Cup or Stanley Cup playoffs.

Notable benefits of training your brain:

• Greater motivation
• More positive attitude
• Sharper focus
• Empowered feelings
• Increased confidence
• Higher level of happiness

How do athletes train their brains?

I share with clients my model for mental conditioning, which includes sport and positive psychology, mindfulness techniques and resilience training. After an initial assessment of their current skills, we clarify their vision, then develop a custom “tool belt” of skills to complement the on- and off-ice training. Goal-setting, the topic of my next column, is a key component of the training. Creating new behaviors takes time, motivation and accountability. Just as random hockey practices or gym workouts will not provide sufficient skills and conditioning to excel, the same holds true with mental conditioning. Consistency is key. What players put into training their brains is generally what they get out of it. The good news is that training your brain takes far less training time than skating, shooting or working out in the gym and requires neither equipment nor membership.

As with physical conditioning, there is also the element of “use it or lose it.” The value of consistent practice is that players can utilize any of the tools at their disposal as needed. I suggest that my clients reflect upon their first experience skating, and how it felt to focus hard, fall, get back up, focus hard and fall again.

Mental training initially requires similar perseverance. And it pays off, when the athlete who possesses an arsenal of tools to draw upon during high-pressure situations, such as tryouts or playoffs, often has the advantage over opponents who have not practiced mental conditioning.

Each month, I will include “homework” for you to integrate into your own training routine. This first assignment is the foundation to developing your mental edge.

Assignment 1

Breathe. Athletes breathe upward of 25,000 breaths a day. Most of these are mindless breaths, which we have no memory of at the end of our day. Breathing is the foundation of training your brain for peak performance.

Here is a three-step exercise to help you to pay more attention to the way you breathe:

1. Sit — or lie down, as long as you don’t drift off — in a comfortable position:

• Keep your back straight back.
• Close your eyes.

2. Take a slow, deep breath:

• Breathe in through your nose (count of two).
• Breathe out through your mouth (count of four).
• Pause (count of 1).

3. Repeat (number varies according to individual)

If you want:

• Place a hand on your abdomen, just on top of your navel.
• As you inhale, notice that your belly will rise about an inch (think: balloon inflating).
• And as you exhale, notice that your belly will fall about an inch (think: balloon deflating).

I encourage you to create your own breathing routine. If possible, create a time when you can consistently practice each day. Many of the college athletes I work with practice their breathing first thing in the morning before they go to breakfast. Others will do it while waiting for class to begin. Develop the routine that works best for you.

Training brain builds mental toughness

For all New England Patriots fans reading this, consider Tom Brady. He is the first to admit that he is not the fastest or quickest on the field, yet he continues to push himself, physically and mentally, not just to be game ready but to excel at his sport. Like building strength and conditioning, training your brain (mental conditioning) requires consistent time and effort.