Sports Psychology Center has created and developed scientifically-validated tests to help determine the extent to which individuals possess the mental and behavioral traits which differentiate elite/star athletes from other competitors, especially those with similar or somewhat superior physical skills.
Toward a new, scientifically-validated way for athletes and coaches to measure and assess mental toughness
When the phrase “mental toughness” is tossed around, the mental vision which most often comes to mind is that of the craggy-faced, scowling Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won five National Football League championships in a seven-year period from1961 to 1967, including Super Bowl I.
Lombardi is the patron saint of many who espouse mental toughness, and to this day---
40 years after his death---is credited (and applauded) for the oft-heard phrase, “Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing”…something he several times denied saying.
“You often hear coaches tell their players, Lombardi said, “We have to be mentally tough. Just what is mental toughness? My definition of mental toughness is proper mental and physical preparation that enables you to forget the price…the sacrifices that you must pay for success. It is the thing that allows us to climb off the mat one more time after we have been knocked down. It gives us the ability to strive on in spite of the hurt and the pain that we may be experiencing. It is what allows us to rebound from temporary failures…”
There have been a significant number of attempts in the past 20 years to define and measure mental toughness …by scholarly psychologists and skilled sports psychology clinicians throughout the world.
In 2002, Dr. Shelton Hanton (Cardiff School of Sport at the University of Wales) and
two associates reported in the Journal of Applied Psychology (May 2002, pp. 205-218) that their research had shown that “Mental toughness is having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to: 1) Generally, cope better than your opponents with the many demands (competition, training, lifestyle) that sport places on a performer; and, 2) Specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, and in control under pressure.”
In that document they identified several specific attributes as “keys to mental toughness, including self-belief, an unshakeable focus, high levels of desire and determination (especially at times of distress), and overall consistency of effort and technique despite life and sport stresses.”
More recently, Professors Middleton, Marsh, Martin, Richards, and Perry of the SELF Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, Australia developed The Mental Toughness Inventory (MTI), a 67-item self-report paper and pencil test that “assesses 12 characteristics of mental toughness, including self-efficacy, potential, mental self-concept, task familiarity, value, personal bests, goal commitment, perseverance, task focus, positivity, stress minimization, and positive comparisons along with one global mental toughness factor (from Middleton et al., 2004a).”
In the near future, our team at Sports Psychology Center (www.sportspsychologycenter.com)
will provide another scientifically-validated definition of mental toughness…and an
inexpensive online test for individuals and coaches to assess and measure that toughness.
Providing this valuable data will be possible because Sports Psychology Center has conducted double-blind scientific validation studies: after athletes were asked to rate themselves in terms of mental toughness as part of SPC’s 130-item assessment to measure the mental traits of athletes in several sports, the coaches, in separate exercises, rated each of their athletes in terms of mental toughness and several other characteristics found in elite and average athletes.
Preliminary results of the study indicate that those men and women athletes who are the
most mentally tough have specific levels of resiliency, self-confidence, focus, work ethic and commitment.
Stay tuned…and remember a few other salient words of Vince Lombardi: “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
These are the thoughts of Chuck Rose, founder of MindMeasures and Sports Psychology Center.
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