Mental Side of Sports

Everybody, who plays sports knows that they can’t just rely on their physical talents and skills. When playing sports, you have to think and act fast, be mentally smart and strong, being just as important as physical strength.

Players can all understand being nervous or anxious before a game or stressed, and it affects them all differently. Pre-game nerves is something almost every athlete experiences, how it affects them is up to them.

Some athletes, think that pre-preformance nerves aids them and prepares them to play better. However, others are affected negatively and impacts the way they play, drastically.

Nerves can lead to what I think is the worst mental factor of sports, a lack of confidence. If you can not play with confidence then you can not play to your full potential. For example, NBA player Markelle Fultz was the number one overall pick in 2017. He completely lost his ability to play because of lack confindence in his drive.

He was so nervous and his confidence was destroyed, so badly, that he forgot how to shoot the ball. This resulted in the 76ers shutting him down for his entire rookie season. Thankfully, as of now, he is back on track and playing well in the league for the Orlando Magic. 

That goes to show that an athlete can have amazing physical capabilities, but they can’t process simple things while playing. This causes them to be incapable of using their skills to fullest potential.

I asked a couple Sutton High athletes their opinion on the importance of confidence in sports, and I was given well thought responses. \

I began with Hunter Miller: “Playing with confidence is definitely more difficult than people think, but it gives you a competitive advantage while playing.” He then went on to say, “I don’t think I could even play basketball without confidence.” I completely agree with what he had to say, and I feel like I can relate to that as much as every other athlete can.

Sammie’s baseball star Leo Colena had his own opinion as well, “You can’t lose confidence when playing. I know when I’m pitching I have to be confident to throw a strike or else I mess up my whole game because it gets in my head.” Leo made a great point about it getting in his head because once that happens you overthink and mess up, you may usually not play to the best of your abilities.

Along with confidence, there is then mental toughness. Coaches say it all the time, that a player needs to be mentally tough because it shows how good a player really is under stress and pressure. The physical strength someone has can only get them so far, when they are mentally weak.

In spite of that mental toughness, it is all about being unselfish. Bill Belichick (New England Patriots, Head Coach) says “Mental toughness is doing the right thing for the team when it’s not the best thing for you.” Players that are able to accept that fact are so important for a team to win and be successful. 

Probably the most important, mental factor is playing smart. No matter how skilled a player is, you can’t play if you can’t play smart. A player has to be able to make smart decisions in situations by memorizing signs or a memorizing a playbook.

For example, NFL players have to memorize a playbook that is more challenging and advanced than anything else in sports. On average, an NFL playbook has about 4,000 calls and 6,000 variations. Hours upon hours go into memorizing it, and players have to read a defense that tries to stop all of those calls and variations. 

At the end of the day, the mental factors in sports have to be taken into consideration along with physical attributes.