Mental Performance Coaching: When should you start

On a recent airplane flight I sat next to a Hockey Coach.  Well he was more than a hockey coach his life’s passion was hockey.  He was a goalie growing up and now his children play hockey and he is a coach for a AAA Ontario Hockey Team.  He said he and the other coaches often discuss when is the optimal time to begin Mental Performance Training.  When is too young, when is it the just right time?

My answer is the earlier you start the better but it is never too late to start.  MPT is coaching around turning negative thoughts into positive.  Creating neural pathways for positive calm  emotions and pruning or reducing and eliminating the neural pathways where stress takes over the body and brain.

Since I coach many bike racers (cyclists) I will use this example.  If a cyclist is doing a new and harder race than ever before and they are so stressed on the start line that their heart rate is far too high and they want to throw up they are not thinking optimally.  Their performance in that race is going to suffer.  They may have had all the physical conditioning and tactical training they need but their stress and negative thoughts are getting in the way or hijacking their performance.  Their confidence is suffering.

Working with a Mental Performance Coach ahead of that big race, ahead of their provincial (state) or national championship race or game to learn how to access their positive emotions, confidence and winning mindset is going to allow them to really optimally  perform.  To really show those tactical and physical skills they possess.

So again to answer that hockey coaches question the younger a person starts the better.   Instead of allowing those neural pathways to develop around negative emotions and negative stress responses, why not create those positive neural pathways from the outset.  It is never too late or too old to start; it just takes more time to create those new fragile pathways and to reinforce them while pruning the pathways that are no longer serving.

The youngest athlete I ever worked with was 11.  He was a part of a sailing team.  The interesting thing about this team was when the coach hired me he said none of his athletes were stressed.  After session two it became clear everyone was stressed about something.  The youngest on the team was no exception.  Guess what by learning to control their negative stress they all became better sailers. Faster starts, faster races, more results.

The oldest athlete I have ever worked with was in her late 50’s.  She wanted to have more positive emotions ( less negative) around her transitions in an Irona Man race.  Based on previous races and transitions this was slowing her down and occupying a lot of mental energy leading up to the race.  Again through Mental Performance Training, Meditation and visualization she had a much better race and was able to leave that anxt behind opening up her mind and brain to more productive thoughts.

Now is the best time to start working with a MPC if you are having negative emotions and too much stress around your sport, job or something else you do in life.  The good news is our brains are indefatigable plastic meaning we can create new neural pathways until the day we die.  If there is the desire to change then you can and will change you just might need a little support and guidance along the way.

Just think if you stripped away all those negative emotions that are treating you down and created new positive emotions that allow you to be who you always dreamed of being, who would you become?  And from that place what becomes possible?

ID: Slide reading Mental Performance Training. When Is the right time to start? Can you be too old or too young?  The answer is now and no.