Mental Toughness In Sports

Mental Toughness in Sport and mental toughness of players in team sports

Courtney Hendricks

201312812

SPS2BB2

University of Johannesburg

2014-09-18

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to discuss mental toughness in sport and to gain an understanding of the concept.The method used was finding a definition and the attributions of mental toughness. Mental toughness will be closely studied, breaking it down and finding the smaller components that it is made of, how it is developed, how it impacts an athlete’s performance and life as an individual, what consequences it has on success. The results are that mental toughness is the ability to cope with the demands of competition and training better than ones opponent. Mental toughness has

In order to meet these demands, sport psychologist and coaches work on developing the mental toughness of athletes. Thus it can be said that sport psychologist who take form as researchers and practitioners, coaches and athletes acknowledge the importance of mental toughness in an athlete’s performance and success. The acknowledging sport psychologists in this text are Jones et al. 2002; Gucciardi et al. 2009a; Williams et al. 2001; etc. Whose definitions are discussed. The research that has been conducted on the different aspects of mental toughness in sport, such as the attributes; how it affects lives and performance; how it is achieved; success in sport careers and how to develop it, will be discussed. I will also look at a study and analyse results of mental toughness of players in team

An example of this would be a study of professional soccer players concluded that mental toughness was formed through experience of varying environments that they had encountered during their formation stages of development (Thelwellet et al. 2005). A variety of competitive and non-competitive experiences, key personnel and environmental influences were identified, all playing a very important role in the development of mental toughness, Drees et al. (no date). It has also been found that sports persons with more years of experience and who were considered elite or sub elite athletes had a stronger mental toughness than younger and less experienced athletes. In Connaughton, Wadey, Hanton and Jones (2008), interviews with the world’s top athletes, coaches and sport psychologist, it was found that the participants mentioned the early , middle, and late years were mentioned phases. Results indicated that mental toughness was developed during each phase of life, with mental toughness being fully developed in later years of life due in parts by an increased competitive experience (p.378). Thus mental toughness appears to be developed over time through experience(Bullet et al.