Mental Performance Recommendations for Optimizing Performance Preparation with COVID-19

Please use the attached document, which is very useful for strategies in dealing with performance preparation during this uncertain time.

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Building Confidence and Focus to Impact Performance

A performer’s mental state has a vital impact on performance; training the mind for success is an essential ingredient alongside the physical, technical, and tactical training and preparation to achieve high performance goals in competition. The Canadian Sport Institute Pacific Mental Performance Team is responsible for working with athletes, coaches, and the integrated Support Teams to create individualized and sport specific mental training to programs to support National Team Programs.

Building Self-confidence and Growing Belief

Lead by experts in the field, the Mental Performance Team concentrates on developing skills addressing motivation and goal setting, focus and concentration, handling pressure and dealing with nerves or building self-confidence and growing belief in both the training and competition environment.

What is Mental Performance?

Mental Performance addresses the psychology of sport performance. Mental performance plays a key role within the high performance sport environment for all those involved from individual athletes and teams to coaches and support staff. Considerable evidence gathered over several decades has demonstrated that a performer’s mental state has a vital impact on performance; training the mind for success is an essential ingredient alongside the physical, technical and tactical training and preparation to achieve high performance goals in competition.

What is Mental Health?

According to the American Psychiatric Association, an increasing number of high performance athletes struggle with mental health issues such as eating disorders, substance abuse, anxiety or depression. Unfortunately, many of these athletes may feel that seeking help for mental or emotional problems may make them appear weak. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

As reported in sport psychiatry research by Reardon and Factor (2010), appropriate diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in high performance athletes is critical for their careers and life. Therefore by reducing the stigma attached to mental illness and increasing awareness in the high performance sport population, we will ultimately help the athletes to help themselves, continue to work hard and perform at the highest level with enjoyment.

For more information about mental health and available resources click here

For More Information

Check out the latest resources from Mental Performance.