GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 31 – August 8, 2015 | Page 43

BY JOE TROLAN
AUGUST 7, 2015

A proactive coach is not just concerned about the results but also about how his or her athletes perform on
the field. It is important that coaches focus equally on
both the physical and mental strength of their athletes.
Commentators continually talk about the fantastic physical condition of todays GAA players but rarely do they
talk about the mental strength of the same players. Yet,
in my opinion, mental strength is just as important as
physical strength. Indeed for many athletes, a mistake is
sometimes much harder to overcome than poor physical
strength and this can affect their performance more than
they think it does.
GIVE OPPORTUNITY
Coaches unfortunately do not spend as much time as
they should on preparing their athletes to be mentally
strong (especially for competitive athletes). Getting your
team in top physical condition is not the only thing needed to be able to compete at the top levels, you need your
team to be ready to handle the “nerves” and recover from
the “mistakes.” So how then should you as a coach prepare
your athletes to be mentally strong? There are no special
pills or drinks that can compensate for a well prepared
and committed coach. There are no set time limits on
helping your athletes prepare mentally and each athlete is
different. Your job as a coach is to give athletes an opportunity to get stronger individually and let them achieve it
at their own pace.
RIGHT MOTIVATION
Coaches should first provide the right motivation for the
athletes. Some athletes may need less motivation than

others but the point is that you should still provide motivation for all your athletes. Competitive sport can be
stressful and the coach must remember that even though
players are playing at a high level, the reason they began
to play is because they enjoyed the sport therefore coaches should not ignore the concept of fun in practice. Using
fun activities can relax players when they normally may
get stressed.
VISUALIZATION AND POSITIVITY
Another concept is that of visualization. Coaches
should encourage their athletes to visualize their success as a way to prepare for any game. When I played in
several county finals in the early 1990’s our coach would
go around each player and have them visualize doing
something good – this helped players get motivated and
prepared to play with passion and commitment. This
also allowed the players to focus on what was important in leading up to the game and not on unimportant
thoughts. A third concept a coach should utilize is positive talking. Athletes make mistakes and have doubts
about themselves. A good coach understands this and
positive talking can help players recover quickly from
mistakes and control any negative thoughts. Many players do not need to be yelled at and do not respond well
to abusive coaches.
The above concepts are only a few of ways that coaches can help their players maintain mental toughness in
sport. As mentioned earlier each player is different but as
a coach you should be prepared to help players when you
recognize them as lacking in confidence and encourage a
positive and proactive environment.

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