As witnessed in the recent distressing demise of my favorite baseball team, mental conditioning as well as team synergy is critical to success in sports. The Boston Red Sox, with all their talented players and winning momentum (a 9 game lead on Tampa Bay on September 3) were not able to maintain their peak performance.
Everyone—couch potatoes included—has moments of peak performance, feeling in the zone, achieving flow. What characterizes a successful athlete or team is being able to maintain peak performance, even under intense pressure.
Whether you play an individual or team sport, all successful athletes require mental sharpness and stamina to succeed. The ability to perform optimally under pressure—as well as recover optimally under pressure—is critical.
A recent article in the New York Times, “Building Bodies for a Mind Game” by Brad Spurgeon highlights this increasingly evident–and scientifically based–aspect of performance. “Fitness is a very important thing in Formula One, but I have to say that now it is less physical fitness and more mental fitness,” said Vitantonio Liuzzi, a driver at the Hispania team.
“To be sharp for a one-and-a-half to two-hour race without making a mistake– more than physical, I believe, is a mental thing.”
Further highlighting the importance of mental fitness Alexander Leibinger, a physiotherapist and osteopath who works with a Formula One race driver remarked in a recent New York Times article, “The difference between a very good athlete is how can you on the race day perform 100 percent. A good one can perform 80 percent or 70 percent, and is not able to perform what he can normally in the training. A very good athlete can perform 100 percent and also in a competition he can improve his performance and do it much better than in the training.”
As a performance psychologist, I am intrigued in following the athletes and teams who can achieve–as well as maintain–their optimal performance.
