Mental Toughness in Sports

By 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... the
hard-kick Boston Red
Sox has done it again.
Leading the N.Y. Mets
three games to two in the World
Series, it blew the sixth game on a
horrendous error by their first hase-
man. Bill Buckner, and then lost the
seventh and deciding game (on their
own merits) the next day.
Believe it or not, it took the Red
Sox 86 years to win their rst World
Series since 1918! But that horren-
dous error by Bill Buckner remains
unforgotten. On a clear day, you can
still hear the chattering from Boston:
"He blew it" ... "He lost his cool"... "It
was just one of those things"..."Bnck
just never had that mental tough-
ness..."
Wiat about mental toughness?
Despite the fact that most coaches and
elite athletes agree that mental tougli-
ness plays a critical role in clutch situa-
tions, it is still a concept that remains
diffictill to define and teach, and it
leads to the $64,000 question:
"Do coaches have the ability to
assess 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 can
observe mentally tough attiibutes in
their players, they must establish a
definition of the attributes that makes
up the term.
Only then will the coach be able to
produce an instnimenl that will help
him recognize the mental strengths
and weaknesses of their athletes and
to design their training programs to
fit the needs of tlieir individual ath-
letes and teams.
Since every athlete or team is dif-
ferent, a canned comprehensive
approach is tinlikely to develop the
mental training skills necessary for ihe
3 O APRIL 2O0S
COACH AND ATHLETIC DIRECTOR
COACHING Mental Toughness in Sports
most productive performances.
Mental lougliness must be considered
a crucial element of the practice and
training activities.
Wliile many coaches use the phrase
and acknowledge the importance of
mental toiiglincss, few attempts have
l)fen made u> define or develop it.
A sttidy published in 1987 by Gould,
Hodjff, Petei-son. &: Petlichkoff.
explored the psychological foundations
of collegiate wrestling coaches. The
study indicated tliat over 90% of the
coaches felt thai sport psychology
cotild assist them in their coaching.
82% of the coaches considered
mental toughness as the most impor-
tant psychological attribute in deter-
mining wresding success.
This lack of clarity and lack of
advancement in the construct is note-
worthy since mental toughness is one
of the most important psychological
attributes necessary for attaining
excellence in sport.
In 1993, Gould. Eklund, & Jackson
studied the coping strategies used by
20 members of our 1988 Olympic
wrestling team.
Their findings revealed that the dif-
feretice between the medal winning
and non-medal winning wrestlers was
that the medalists' coping stiategies
were more internalized and automa-
tized than the strategies of the non-
medalists. This finditig was significant
because it distinguished between suc-
cessful and unsuccessful athletes
whose levels of achievement were
related to the development of psycho-
logical skills.
These skills and attributes found in
the more successful athletes contribute
to the definition of mental toughne.ss.
The phrase mental toughness still
lacks a universal working definition,
though several sports psychologists
have attempted to distinguish the con-
struct and the characteristics that are
essential in becoming a mentally
tough athlete.
In 2002, Jones, Hanton, &
Connaughton endeavored to define
die term mental toughness. The fol-
lowing definition was created:
"Mental touglmess is haung the
natural or developed psychological
edge that enables you to:
Generally cope better than your
opponents with the many demands
(competition, training, and lifestyle)
that sport places on a performer.
" Specilically, be more consistent and
better than your opponents in
remaining determined, focused,
confident, and in control under
pressure.
This definition encompasses the
essence of the phrase (mental tough-
ness), yet [ones emphasized thai more
researcli shouid be done in order to
better understand the concept and its
crirical 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 the
most important components of mental
toughness and to what degree they felt
these components were teachable.
The questionnaire consisted of 20
components of mental toughness, 12
of wliich came from the 2002 [ones et
al study.
The remaining eight were identified
by C'al Ripken in a 2004 ptibcation
(Stratton). In Pha.se-Two, 10 of the 22
coaches were interviewed in order to
gain a more n<lepth undersLmding of
llie Phase-One research results.
The data showed that the following
components were fundamental to the
definition of mental unighness:
Having an unshakable self-beTieF
in the unique qualities and abili-
ties that make you better than
your opponents.
Strength: You have to be in good
physical and mental condition. You
must be psychologically and emo-
tionally prepared.
3 Having an unshakable .self-helief in
your ability to achieve your compe-
tition goals.
4, Have conviction: You have to he a
little bit stubborn.
5 Regaining psychological control fol-
lowing unexpected, imcontrollahle
I events (competition specific).
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COACH AND ATHLETIC DIRECTOR
COACHING Mental Toughness in Sports
6. Have a strong will to succeed:
Don't let setbacks slop you from
achieving your goal.
7. Remaining fully focused on the
task at hand in the face of competi-
tion-specific distractions,
8. Be consistent; Recognize and
adjust to change so that yon are
always able lo make a contribution
to your team.
9. Not being adversely affected by oth-
ers' good and bad performances.
10. Be competitive: It's not just about
beating your opponent. You have
to internalize competitiveness and
take pride in what you do.
11. Switching a sport focus on and off
as required.
12. Personal management: Don't duck
potential problems; take on the
prohlems directly to prevent small
problems from building into big-
ger problems.
!3. Thriving on the pressure of com-
petition.
14. Take the right approach: Always be
ready to play.
15. Accepting that competition anxiety
is inevitable and knowing that you
can 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 increased
determination to succeed.
19. Remaining fully focused in the face
of personal life distractions.
20. Pushing back the boundaries of
physical and emotional pain, while
.still maintaining technique and
eTort under distress (in training
and competition).
These characteristics were also
rated 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 mental
toughness includes a variety of attrib-
utes and that it is incorrect to nse the
phrase with words such as persever-
ance, persistence, or determination.
The definition of the term rests in
a combination of traits (Creasy &
Stratton, 2006).
After a definition has been identi-
fied, an instrument or inventory can
be designed so that coaches will be
able to assess mentally tough (piali-
ties in their athletes.
In past studies, Likert scales were
used to rank characteristics of mental
toughness. These scales allow partic-
ipants to associate a numerical value
with an attribute and illustrate a par-
ticipant's agreement or disagreetnent
with the importance of [he trait.
Being ahle to use a mental tough-
ness inventory would gieatly aid
coaches in evaluating tnental toiigh-
tiess in their athletes.
Questionnaires have t)een used to
suit specific mental toughtiess studies
such as in Goitld et al's Psychological
Fimndalions of Coaching: Simihiritifs
and Dijferpices Among Intercollegiate
Wrestling Coaches.
Instruments like the MnUal
Toughness Inventory by Middleton,
Marsh, Martin, Richards, 8c Perry
(2003) have also been developed to
evaluate components of the con-
struct, but no universal n)ethod has
been adopted and employed to date.
What coaches need is an instru-
ment to assess the mental strengths
and weaknesses of their athletes.
As soon as an instrument has been
developed coaches will be able to put
together specialized training routines
for their athletes.
Since NCA.\ rules prohibit coach-
es from practicing more than 20
hours 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; a
number of activities can be incorpo-
rated with regular practice activities.
Intervening with positive thinking
is another easily integrated tech-
nique. Players simply repeat positive
affirmations 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 training
programs into their tiormal routines
without taking away fiom v;iln;tbU'
practice time.
Mental skills training is a crucial
aspect of practice regimens for ath-
letes of all levels and there is always
room for improvement in mental
toughness (Bull et al., 1996).
A mental toughness in;entory
could be useiul for recruitment pur-
poses, as well. When coaches are
recruiting athletes, they not only
look at present physical ability and
knowledge of the game, but potential
ability and prospective gains.
A study conducted in 2002 by
Durand-Bush & Sahnela examined
factors that contributed lo tlie devel-
opment and continuation of expert
athletic perloiinance.
Ten Olvmpic or World (Ihainpions
were interviewed on how certain fac-
tors affected their performances in
each stage of their athletic careers.
During ail fotn" stages (Sampling,
Specialization, Itivestment, and
Maintetiance), the athletes used
some form of mental skills training
to enhance their performances.
During the Maintenance years for
example, athletes used mental strate-
gies such as visualization, goal set-
ting, and positive self-talk in order to
expand upon their abilities. Even
though the performers had reached
the height of their careers, they con-
tinued to push for improvement
using mental skills training (Durand-
Bush & Saimela, 2002).
In examining what sort of
research exists (ni the constiuct and
the lack of precision concerning the
matter, one theme is clear: Mental
toughness is one of the most impor-
tant attributes an athlete can possess
in order to successfully perform.
If the majority of coaches truly
believe in the value of mental tough-
ness, it is troubling to know that
scarcely anyone is pursuing rest-arch
on the construct and its crucial role
in athletic performance.
34 APRIL 200e
COACH AND ATHLE