We’ve discussed how the 3 C’s of athlete training (Confident, Capable, Conditioned) can benefit an athlete physically.  A confident, capable, and conditioned athlete is ready physically for anything his/her sport can throw out.

In sport, however, athletes deal with much more than physical challenges.  The mental side of sports are a very real thing.  Athletes can get made or broken based on the ability to handle the mental stress. 

The 3 C’s of athlete training can definitely help an athlete mentally, and here’s how:

An athlete that is confident mentally can take the game-winning shot, goal, putt (or whatever the term for scoring) without breaking.  The athlete has built up the strength, the body awareness, the movement skill, and practiced the movement so many times that it is ingrained to the point it becomes second nature.  On top of that, the athlete has been pushed in training and come out on top enough times that he/she doesn’t stress out when the pressure is on. 

On a side note: have you ever seen that athlete that is super “chill” at all times and almost has an arrogance about them?  That is the confident athlete.  That athlete is dangerous.  I can tell you from experience going against the confident athlete is tough because it’s very easy to get psyched out.

An athlete that is capable mentally can take in a lot of things at one time.  Much of what an athlete has to do is based on reaction from another athlete.  When an athlete trains those reactions and gets pushed to react faster and move better in those reactions, when it comes to the game he/she is ready (or capable).

Have you ever had to try to do 2 things at once mentally, and then complete a physical task (and oh by the way do it fast)?  How does that go?  My guess is not well.  That is where training comes in.  You can train the mind to handle more mentally and then perform better physically.

An athlete that is conditioned mentally has gone through mentally challenging tasks in training and pushed through.  The athlete knows what it’s like to get the “I just want to be done” feeling, but pushed through to finish when he/she needs to most.

There is a huge mental component to sport.  An athlete can train that aspect right alongside the physical component.  And the best part: you don’t have to do much more than a properly executed athlete training program.