Pregame Mental Preparation Dos and Dont's

Pregame Mental Preparation Dos and Dont's
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.
Do you have a mental preparation routine you use prior to each competition? The pregame warm up is much more than a physical warm up. You have to use this time to be mentally ready to compete. Most top athletes use pregame mental preparation routines to feel ready to perform their best and consistently perform up to their physical talent!

Hall of fame player Hank Aaron attributed much of his success in baseball to his mental preparation--both before and during the game. Aaron was one of the best hitters in the history of baseball and is a huge advocate of the mental game. When Aaron struggled to get a hit against a pitcher, he would go back to the dugout to study that pitcher.

Aaron believed that mental preparation and doing his “homework” was the key to becoming a top, consistent hitter year after year. He was a master at studying the pitcher before games. “I think about how a guy mentally prepares himself to do battle, to go out and face the pitcher. I think so many hitters do not know how to get themselves prepared to play or hit against a pitcher. You have to mentally be prepared to hit against all pitchers.” (Hanson, 1991)

Aaron treated each game differently because he had to face a different pitcher, and this required concentration on and visualization of the pitcher’s stuff. “You visualize [pitches]. You see it in your head; you think about it… I used to play every pitcher in my mind before I went to the ballpark. I started getting ready for every game the moment I woke up.” (Aaron & Wheeler, 1991)

Today, the world’s top athletes use pregame rituals or routines to help create the proper mindset for competition and practice. Your mental preparation should start a long time before the competition and involves more than just visualizing a successful performance. Pregame routines instill confidence, focus, and a success-oriented mindset at the start of competition.

Abby Wombach, the 3rd highest all-time goal scorer of the US Women’s National Soccer Team, understands the importance of mental preparation during her pregame routine to help her play at peak levels. How does she mentally prepare for big games?

“Coming into every game, I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself to leave it all on the field. Four hours before the game I eat a good meal -- nothing too heavy. I hydrate all day long and I do a lot of mental imagery, I picture myself playing the game, I see myself doing all those things that my team is counting on me to do,” said Wombach.

She likes to keep her team and herself loose before a game with music and dance. “Before the games, I'm kinda a goofball. I'm always dancing, singing, anything to calm people down. I guess I'm really trying to keep myself calm too a little bit.”

Athletes ask me if they can take mental preparation too far and overanalyze their game or focus too much on the opposition. My answer is…. Yes! I’ve worked with athletes who tire themselves out mentally and physically because they focus too much on an upcoming game and stress themselves out. You want to feel both fresh and ready before competition so you have to find a balance.

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If you play in the afternoon or a night game, you want to feel fresh, but focused and ready to compete. Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz doesn’t want his players exhausted before a night game. “We talk to guys, anytime we play a night game we talk to them about not playing the game during the day. Just try to relax, do your mental preparation, but don't just sit there and think about it for nine hours, because you're going to be exhausted at game time.”

Five Pregame Mental Preparation Errors

What are the top mental game errors athletes make before competition that limits their ability to perform well? Here’s my top five:

1. Maintaining strict expectations about your performance. Maintaining high, specific expectations can limit your success – for example, “I must birdie every hole in order to win today.” I teach my students to identify strict expectations and replace them with simple objectives that help them focus on the process.
2. Leaving confidence to chance. Many athletes lack self-confidence until the game has already started – until they can make a good play or hit quality shots. You have to learn how to be proactive with your confidence.
3. Letting doubts undermine confidence. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. When you question your ability prior to competition, you erode any confidence you’ve brought to the game. I teach athletes how to cut off doubts before they uproot confidence.
4. Carrying life’s worries into sports. Some athletes have trouble “shelving” major life events during competition. Whether the issue is a term paper or a fight with a boss, one goal of mental preparation is to enter the role of the athlete and temporarily forget about other concerns
5. Over-training before competition. Perfectionists in individual sports, such as golf and tennis, spend too much time training just prior to competition. This is the equivalent of cramming for an upcoming test. In sports, you never want to cram during the final days before the competition.

Pregame Mental Preparation Checklist:

My view is that mental preparation is all about confidence and focus. When you are confident and focused on the process, you are mentally ready to complete. I think visualization is overrated in sports, but it can be used effectively to help you prepare.

Here’s my checklist for pregame mental preparation (Based on "Get Psyched for Sports: Pregame Mental Preparation Strategies to Perform Your Best):

1. Enter Role of Athlete – commit to “parking” life issues or hassles for the time being so you can focus on your sport
2. Set a Game Plan or Strategy – use your strengths and opponent’s weaknesses to help you perform well.
3. Be Proactive with Confidence – don’t leave confidence for chance with reactive confidence. Do everything in your power to feel confident before competition.
4. Set Small Goals to Focus on the Process – set one or two small performance goals to help you focus on execution instead of results.
5. Rehearse Your Performance – see and/or feel yourself performing your role with confidence.
6. Prepare to Trust in Your Skills – Don’t worry about the quality of your performance in the warm up. Put practice behind you and become the performer.
7. Embrace the Butterflies – feel pumped and ready for competition. Don’t be scared when your heart beat increases and your palms begin to sweat.

Note: This article was based on Dr. Cohn’s mental training e-book, “Get Psyched for Sports.” Peaksports Network members can download this e-book free at our online mental training program for athletes and coaches.