Playing in the playoffs or any important game for that matter can create mental challenges for you or your team. Some teams might have grand expectations, feeling that they need to beat a team or have a perfect performance, which can create pressure and undermine confidence. Other teams might psych themselves out, freeze up in competition, and lose confidence and trust in their skills. Some might look ahead to the next round and let up in the current game, causing them to underperform.
How can you or your team boost their mental toughness?
You’ll want to downplay the importance of the game. Many teams get caught up in the hoopla, teams’ records, or other unimportant information. You’ll want to look at this game as the same as any other game during the season. You’ll want to focus on your team’s strategy for the game and what you can do to execute that strategy. Rely on your practice and preparation to get the job done.
You’ll also want to let go of any expectations you (or others) have for your performance. Many teams focus too much on results or what it means if they win. When you focus on results, you lose focus on the current shift. You’ll want to refocus quickly when you get distracted and focus on what you need to do during the current play or shift. That may be to focus on good passes or stay with your competitor. By focusing on the process, the results will eventually fall into place.
In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson got yanked after giving up four goals on 14 shots against Pittsburgh.
Two nights later, he stopped 45 shots in a 2-1 win to force a Game 7 with the eventual winners of Lord Stanley’s Cup.
How was Anderson able to get past a disastrous performance so quickly?
“Oh God, Andy does that right after the game,” Senator’s defenseman Marc Methot told espn.com.
Anderson, a 15-year veteran at the time, credited his ability to shake off a bad game to working with a sports psychologist at the outset of his career.
"I took my biggest strides in pro hockey as far as mentally probably after my first year (of) pro," Anderson said after the game. "It was one of those things where I found a sports psychologist that I liked and worked with when I was a young player. I used those tools and read a couple of books along the way. It's a tough thing to do but having nights like tonight just emphasizes things that I had been taught."
Playoffs Heighten Everything
Some say mental toughness is nothing more than the ability to clear your mind and focus on the situation at hand.
Consider everything the NHL playoffs are that the regular season is not:
· Your games are on another TV network, and at a different time of day.
· Your friends and family are more likely to be on hand, thus you’re more likely to be dealing with ticket requests and demands during your pregame and postgame time.
· You’re playing the same team three times in a week — so that guy who rode you into the boards two nights ago, stoned you on a breakaway, or beat you on three straight faceoffs is back in your face again tonight.
· There are more reporters to talk to, and more media obligations to meet.
· The heightened stakes require heightened concentration, which is physically draining.
· The speed of the game ratchets up with the intensity, also creating a greater physical burden.
· Expanded rosters crowd the dressing room, even as shortened rotations and longer shifts make ice time an issue at both ends of the spectrum.
Those are a lot of stray thoughts to clear away. But it is possible.
Dealing With the Pressure
Most of the tricks of mental toughness are surprisingly simple, which isn’t to say easy. For example, focus on process (making the right pass) over results (whether it finds your teammate’s stick or earns you an assist). If you’re invested in the process, results tend to follow.
Sports psychologist Wayne Halliwell builds his NHL playoff approach on several “C” words: control, composure, concentration, commitment, confidence, and consistency. His goal is to help players focus, or refocus, amid frustrations including missed opportunities, bad bounces, bad officiating, physical play and the desire to respond to it in a retaliatory manner, getting robbed by a goalie “standing on his head,” and tough losses.
The Approach?
· Hit the mental toughness basics — breathing, visualization, dealing with pressure and frustration — in as non-clinical a manner as possible. Typically, he’ll show his clients short slips of great athletes in other sports discussing their commitment to the moment they are in, not worrying about the moment just passed or the one yet to arrive.
· Provide process-oriented focus thoughts (or mantras) such as “move your feet” or “finish your check” for defensemen, and “out and big” or “one shot at a time” for goalies.
· Don’t underestimate the value of a team playoff theme — it makes for more than a good T-shirt. “Discipline Over Emotion,” “Safe is Death” and the like, Halliwell said, provide a constant focus for the way teams want to think and play.
To develop mental toughness, try these tips:
View pressure situations as challenges. Challenges are like obstacle courses. The fun is in finding ways to rise above the challenges.
You should use a consistent pregame routine to help you mentally prepare for games instead of focusing on failing or not playing your best
Until next time,
Coach Nye
*Additional Information from Dr. Patrick Cohn
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