How Sports Psychology Helps Win The “6-inch War”

“The average human skull is six inches from ear to ear,” says Collegiate Strength Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCa) Chief Development Officer Al Johnson. “One of the most important components for you as a coach is to develop and improve the gray matter between [athletes’] ears.” The most effective way to do this is to integrate sports psychology into coaching programs, says Corey Miller, assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Carolina Panthers. At the 2023 Hammer Strength Clinic, Miller and Johnson shared sports psychology tips on how to win this ‘6-inch war.’
 

The Benefits of Sports Psychology

Miller compares mental fitness to keeping a clean room. “Think of the dresser drawer in your room. You probably got cussed out a lot because your room's a mess and there are clothes all over the place. What I want to teach these guys is how to place all the clothes back in the dresser.”

This analogy helps him explain the process of mental fitness to his athletes. For example, if an athlete has a relationship issue that’s interfering with his performance, they’ll open that ‘drawer’ together to unpack what’s going on. In this way, athletes can address any issues they have and let them go.
 

How Sports Psychology Builds Strong Programs

According to Miller, strength coaches have four responsibilities:

1. Providing emotional support
2. Providing sports psychology support
3. Shaping team dynamics
4. Receiving and relaying information

“I wouldn't want to work with a strength coach that I didn't trust or believe in,” Miller says. “I'm not going to give you 100% if we don't have a relationship [where] I feel like you got my back.” Building trust isn’t an overnight thing, Miller says. It requires daily effort to build those relationships.

You also need a culture built on trust to successfully motivate athletes, Johnson says. “Never lower the bar; the bar’s been lowered their whole life until they get to you. Challenge and make them better. Today’s athletes are very sensitive. They all want respect.”

Miller says that the foundation of culture and trust will shape a team’s mentality. “If there’s any disconnect, your team may not perform at the highest level.”

Strong relationships also facilitate greater insight into factors off the field that are affecting athletic performance. “A player's always going to come to the strength coach and tell us a heck of a lot more than he's going to tell his position coach,” Miller says. “With this information, I can help bridge the gap. If he's not performing well on the football field, I can double back to the position coach.” He can explain to the position coach the context of mental or personal issues that are affecting play. For example, Miller says, he may suggest to the coach that the athlete needs extra time or a different form of motivation or communication. “These are things we can utilize to help our athletes perform at higher levels.”
 

Sports Psychology Techniques to Improve Motivation

“Goal setting is something that you can use on a daily basis,” Miller says.
Focus on three types of goals:

• Outcome goals
• Performance goals
• Process goals

“Make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based),” Miller says. “And set short-, medium- and long-term goals.”

To achieve goals, athletes must be motivated. When working on motivation, teach athletes how to manage adversity and increase performance through a combination of extrinsic (external) and intrinsic (self-driven) rewards.

Techniques used to enhance performance are also linked to decreasing anxiety and increasing confidence and motivation. “The athlete has to feel competent, like they mean something,” Miller says. “They want to feel connected to others.” Coaches can increase athlete engagement and motivation every time a goal is achieved. “Celebrate it. Talk about it as a group afterward. That maximizes quantity and quality motives.”
 

Sports Psychology Techniques to Develop Mental Toughness

Coaches can use sports psychology to develop mental toughness, which Miller defines as a strong desire to succeed. “It is the psychological edge that enables you to be better than your competitors and remain that way.”

Coaches need to model this skill, Miller says, “by staying positive in the face of challenge and pressure, controlling what you can control and balancing a high level of self-belief with positive body language.”

Miller’s six attributes of a mentally tough athlete:

1. They get over being afraid to fail.
2. They always seek out challenging situations.
3. They enjoy competition for what it is.
4. They don't look for rewards.
5. They work hard to win.
6. They have self-assurance and the belief that they can successfully perform.

 

Additional Sports Psychology Tips

Miller and Johnson have these additional tips for building stronger athletes:

• Encourage positive self-talk to help athletes build confidence.
• Tell them to forget the mistakes they make.
• Prepare while others are playing and dream what others are wishing.
• Be all-in.
• Break difficult things into smaller steps.
• Push through mental abuse and blocks.
• Avoid perfection.
• Focus on the basics. Do simple better.

 

Now is the Best Time to Integrate Sports Psychology Into Athletic Programs

If you don’t already integrate sports psychology into your coaching, now is the time to do so. “Lack of time is the main [reason] teams don't want to do this -- they'll say it takes too long and it's not the main thing they're focused on, so it's not integrated into their schedule. But if we're neglecting our athletes’ wellbeing, we're neglecting our athletes' mental capabilities, then are we really [paying attention] to the main thing?”

A simple way to introduce sports psychology into your program is to conduct wellness surveys. “I do a wellness survey with each athlete I work with,” Miller says. “We go through family life, stressors, sleep and nutrition.” This not only delivers key insights into an athlete’s mentality, but it also builds relationships.

Finding resources and beginning to incorporate the above elements is crucial because soon sports psychology won’t be a ‘nice to have,’ it will be mandatory. “The NCAA is going to require as much an emphasis on sports psychology as they do sports nutrition, kinesiology and biomechanics,” Miller explains. “It's an important component we need to implement by 2030, so I think everyone should get ahead of it.”

Want more tips on building stronger athletic programs? Join us at the next Hammer Strength Clinic.