Written by Athletes, regardless of age and level, are not always mentally prepared or focused for practice or competition. This lack of focus can lead to poor technique, not giving 100 percent, having a bad practice, teammates’ or a coach’s frustration, and even injury. Sometimes something is not going well at home for an athlete, maybe they are frustrated about their lack of progress through a season, or they are not dropping time in an event. There are hundreds of reasons that an athlete can not be mentally prepared before practice or competition, or lose focus during it.
Coaches must recognize that not all athletes will arrive to practice or competition mentally prepared, and coaches should actually plan on this happening. Just like making sure athletes are physically conditioned, coaches should always ensure that athletes come mentally prepared as well. If an athlete is not focused, it will diminish their own abilities and erode their team’s performance.
Helping athletes through lack of focus can be trying. But the first thing that coaches and officials within an organization must do is to create an environment and culture of understanding that athletes will not always be mentally prepared of focused. One of the opportunities that coaches or others that are part of the team’s staff to help cultivate this environment is to recognize when an athlete is not focused. Does an athlete look “out of it” during warm up drills? Does the player keep on missing their assignments? Or maybe the athlete keeps on false starting or missing passes that they always make.
If an athlete looks to not be focused, it is okay. A coach should just pull the athlete aside and strike up a conversation with them. Maybe they got in a car accident earlier that day, got a bad grade on a test, is frustrated with their coach, or maybe her husband lost his job and she is worried that they will struggle financially. Wherever the lack of focus comes from, addressing the lack of focus is different for each athlete. Sometimes a quick discussion about the issue is all that is needed to help the athlete refocus. Maybe the player just needs to run separately to center themselves and rejoin the practice when they are ready. And sometimes, an athlete just needs to leave practice to go home to relax or to reduce the frustrations that they are having. The possibilities of what may work are endless. Coaches and staff just need to find what works for each athlete.
An athletes’ focus and mental preparation are just as important as their physical preparedness. Each coach’s goal is to ensure that each athlete and team are performing at peak levels. If a coach takes the time to ensure athlete focus as much as their physical preparation, they will be extremely pleased with the results.