How Can Athletes Develop Their Resilience

To be a successful athlete, there is no more important mental skill to have other than mental discipline to overcome a setback and stay focused on the process of competing. Here are some actions for athletes to complete that will help them with their resiliency.

• Start seeing resilience as something they can develop and improve.

  • Work on developing coping strategies (ie. actions after an error, loss or when you get taken out of a game).

  • Build a list of “resilient” qualities.

• Only think about and work on things within your control.

  • Your athletic skills

  • Your mental skills

  • Your daily schedule- (fuel, sleep, etc)

• Challenge yourself- enough to see if you will fail.

  • Get outside of your comfort zone.

    • Things that are difficult.

    • Things that you have never done.

• Anticipate what is next.

  • Next play, next game, next week

• Build positive relationships.

  • Teammates and coaches.

  • A support group off the field, outside of your sport.

• Have a routine that allows you to learn about mistakes.

  • Reflect on what has helped you overcome setbacks in the past

  • No judgments.

  • Growth mindset.

Praising athletes on talent encourages a fixed mindset while praising people on effort encourages a growth mindset.