England legend Jonny Wilkinson gives his tips on dealing with mental pressure in sport.
England legend Jonny Wilkinson gives his tips on dealing with mental pressure in the pursuit of the perfect performance
Skill, strength and speed are the natural areas of focus for athletes, but a knowledgeable coach will also ensure athletes train their mind.
Whether at grass roots or elite level, mental concentration, composure and an ability to understand, accept and overcome nerves is an important skill to master.
To help budding coaches understand how to train the mental skills of their athletes, England legend and 2003 World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson, who has worked under the likes of Sir Clive Woodward, explains how he has dealt with cognitive pressure throughout a glittering career.
Accept that nerves are normal
A good coach makes you realise nerves appear before an event, because the outcome really matters to you. It is because you care. You do not want to fail and you do not want to miss out on the chance of succeeding. This is inherently a good thing, so accept it and be proud of that.
Turn negative thoughts to positive
A coach should create excitement, not fear. Do not allow your view to be negatively inspired. Make pressure a positive and make it work for you, rather than against you. Pressure creates nervousness, but it can also drive you and bring out the best. The rush of adrenaline which accompanies anxiety actually has the power to boost strength, concentration, application and speed of thought. It can also tear you apart. A coach should make sure an athlete perceives it in the right way.
Simulate playing under pressure
Performing well on the training field is easy. Take the same situation into a big match arena and suddenly everything feels harder. The key to performing under pressure is finding a way of linking the two together. My coaches, Steve Black and Dave Alred, have both encouraged me to practice situations in training which feel tougher and more challenging than any real-life game situation. Simulating pressure in training, like playing rugby on a smaller pitch, will help you to get better. During training I always try to put myself in as many situations as possible which get the heart racing and the mind working overtime. If you can evoke pressure in training, you will be better able to cope with it in a game.
Remember your goal
Think about what you want to achieve and inject this extra energy into each step of the process of getting you there. A quality coach will encourage an optimistic mentality. Thinking positively is a skill and a habit, just like kicking a ball, so practise it every day. Teach yourself to always think about the outcome you want, not the one you fear.
Set yourself high standards
Every repetition of every skill in every training session counts. The more you practise something, the easier it will be to execute it under pressure during a game. A good coach will not let a player be lazy and waste their time. A pass in rugby, for example, is either bang on target or not. Each pass you make goes into one of these two categories: acceptable or unacceptable. A good player will be taught to get better each day. Your match performances will always be an honest reflection of your 'accounts' in each of those two categories: acceptable or unacceptable. How hard have you trained? We are creatures of habit. If you throw 10 out of 20 good passes a day, then on the whole you will be a 50 per cent player. But you have control over this. Put yourself under pressure each day to get better at getting it right every time, think positively every time you picture something in your mind and you will become an every-time player, regardless of pressure. And everyone wants a player like that in their team, do they not?
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