Mental Toughness In Sports

Abstract
This report will focus on mental toughness and how this cognitive skill can aid an athlete’s performance. It will aim to explain and unpack all of the components of mental toughness as well as certain aspects which affect it, such as age and gender. The report will also look at methods of improving one’s mental toughness and how a person’s personality traits will affect their mental toughness. Through this research, it is evident that having mental toughness allows the athlete to have a certain edge or advantage over their competitors, allowing that athlete to perform at their peak. Introduction
Mental toughness is defined by Butt as, “the personal capacity to produce consistently high levels of subjective or objective performance,

L, 2014). These athletes will keep a positive mindset, persevere through tough situations and bounce back from failure and disappointing performances (anonymous, 2014).Mental toughness is said to vary performance by 25%, affecting a person’s performance despite the circumstances. The main aim of mental toughness is to buffer the athlete against stressors during the competition. Stress is defined by Weinberg and Gould as,” an imbalance between demand (physical or psychological) and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet demands has important consequences” (2010). A stressor is a situation, person or object which causes the athlete to become stressed. The person views the demands as surpassing their abilities, thereby causing an altered mental state which affects performance. The main stressor for athletes is performance pressure which may cause them to doubt their

These days, people allow themselves to succumb to stressors more easily when compared with the past. People also talk about their stress alot more openly and society has become more accepting to stress, resulting in people who give in to stress more quickly. (Anonymous, 2010).
Developing mental toughness
As stated above, mental toughness is a skill which can be developed through practise. Studies in animals indicated that one may build up mental toughness by being exposed to stressors. This study posed a similar result for humans who used certain methods such as stress inoculation training and simulation training, to build their mental toughness. However, there are a few aspects which influence the development of mental toughness:
Past life experiences will affect how a person reacts and deals with certain stressful situations. They may have been taught to act in a certain way when facing a stressor by their parents or peers or a past bad experience may shape the person’s perception on a situation.
Regular exposure to certain stressors decreases the amount of stress hormone released during this experience, eventually leading to the athlete becoming immune to