Mental Toughness

 

I recently interviewed UT tennis player Johannus Monday for a podcast that I do. Often called “Joe” by friends and fans, Johannus is tall, powerful lefty whose game is spectacular to watch. I became acquainted with him primarily through my tennis-playing grandson. 

A three-time All-American, he is currently #7 in the country in singles and #8 in doubles.  He played in Wimbledon last year in England, which is where he is from, an opportunity that he called “the best moment of my life.”

In my interview with him, I asked Johannus what it took to compete at the highest level. His answer surprised me.I expected it to be the classical mantra of hard work, persistence, dedication, attention to details. Nope. That wasn’t what he shared at all.

He said that at the top of the game, everyone has the skills. Everyone has the ground strokes. Everyone can serve and volley.  Everyone understands the basics of the game.

Everybody is fit and works hard in the weight room. They all spend hours and hours on the court practicing. What he said was that what separates good from great is the mental aspect. Being mentally strong is the difference.

He recalls that when he arrived at UT, he was sent to a sports psychologist to work on mental training. He recalls being placed in an ice tub and going through mental exercises to control his body’s response to the cold.

We sometimes call it “mental toughness.” It’s a complicated beast that requires a level of mental discipline that eludes a lot of athletes.

I’ve seen the down side of this happen too many times. A play goes awry or someone misses a shot they should have met. Or strikes out. Some players will allow that to blow their mind and they simply don’t recover.

Mental toughness means you move on, not letting the last play affect the next one.  Having self-confidence helps. Mental self-manipulation helps.

When I was still on the MHS football sidelines, I spent a lot of time with our kickers. I was sort of their unofficial “coach,” although I did very little coaching with them.

I was responsible for their conditioning and making sure that they knew the practice schedule. Oh, I might remind them to keep their head down or to visualize a successful kick, but that was about it. I spent a lot of time with the kickers, so I always got to know them quite well.

Then, during a game, it was part of my job to keep their head in the game.  Most of that was just to tell them “the last one doesn’t count—the next one does,” if they ever missed a kick. Understanding their headspace from all the practice time we spent together helped.

Your last mistake doesn’t matter. It’s what you do next. That seems a good lesson for life as well. We all make mistakes.

But knowing that’s what you need to do and doing it can be two very different things. You have to figure out your own psyche to know how to do that successfully.  A simple “get over it” doesn’t work.

I’ve heard many coaches tell their team to expect some adversity during the course of the game. A fumble. A turnover. A call you might disagree with. Your ability to put that behind you and move on is the key to athletic success when they’re keeping score.

Self-analysis helps but sometimes you need someone that you know and trust to tell you that it’s OK to move on. That it’s what you do next that really counts.