Mindfulness Practice With Athletes - Nate Wilson-Traisman Counseling

In our previous post, we discussed the meaning and application of mindfulness. While mindfulness practice can be helpful in a variety of situations, I’d like to explore how mindfulness practice might be helpful for athletes.

The percentages of sport-playing children in the United States is huge. While estimates vary, a 2013 ESPN article found that by age 6, 60 percent of boys, and 47 percent of girls, are already on a sports team. It’s evident that sports play a big role in the lives of many young Americans. Sadly, the article also found that 45 percent of kids who start a sport, quit it. When polled, 38 percent of the girls who quit a sport, and 39 percent of boys who quit a sport, said they quit because they weren’t having fun.

Kids quit sports for a variety of reasons, but when playing a sport becomes overly stressful, it’s hard to enjoy it. External factors like bad coaches, and over-expecting parents can contribute to that stressful environment, which may ultimately lead to young athletes putting more pressure on the outcome of their performance.

While factors like bad coaches and over-involved parents are beyond an athlete’s control, there are components of their performance they can control. How can we arm youth with tools to cope with the stressors of athletic-performance, while utimately allowing them to find more enjoyment in sport? Teaching young athletes the tenets of mindfulness practice, and translating those tenets to the sport of their choice, is one possible solution.

It’s no doubt that competition can be stressful. As kids age, and the stakes get higher, more pressure is placed on individual performance. When young athletes don’t succeed, all of these factors can promote a fear of failure. Rather than focusing on the next play, young athletes are prone to focus on previous/past performance. When athletes fear failure in sport, the simple idea of competition can be extremely anxiety-producing.

Focused attention on the here and now can help athletes overcome fear of failure. Rather than dwelling on a previous athletic error, it’s helpful to focus on the goals of the game/practice/play at-hand. This can be especially true for sports like baseball/softball, golf, tennis, and football, where there can be plenty of time to think between plays. A NY Times article profiled a study with competitive BMX bikers, which found that mindfulness training helped the bikers identify impending psychologically stressful situations while mitigating the ensuing physiological panic. Essentially, through mindfulness, the athletes could slow the body’s stress response so that it no longer affected their physical performance. Whether it’s fielding a baseball, shooting a free-throw, or making a putt, there’s little doubt that slowing down our body’s anxiety response would benefit athletic performance.

How can we teach kids/teens/young adults to do this? Simple mindfulness practices like mindful breathing, body scan, and mindful visualization, can be a great place to start. Additionally, sportsandthemind.com is a tremendous resource for athletes interested in mindfulness. Finally, if this feels too daunting to begin alone, consider contacting a therapist or sports psychologist. As a former college athlete, I have experienced first-hand the benefit of these tools, and would be happy to help you, or your child, incorporate mindfulness practice into your athletic endeavors.