How Athletes Can Strengthen Themselves

A Triple-Impact Competitor® strives to create a positive sports experience by strengthening themselves, their teammates, and the game they play. The following worksheet gives athletes the chance to reflect on tools to strengthen themselves by focusing on both their mental wellness and pursuit of skill mastery.

Breathing Exercises

Breathing exercises can help you reduce anxiety, calm the stress response system, focus more clearly, and improve performance.⁽¹⁾ When you start to feel overwhelmed, try any of these breathing exercises to support your mental wellness.

I know I’m starting to feel overwhelmed when: _______________________________________________

The breathing exercise I’m going to try is: ___________________________________________________

Talk it Out

Supportive relationships can help you deal with and overcome stress, build resilience, and improve your mental wellness. When you start to feel stressed, find a friend or trusted adult to talk to.

Someone I can reach out to when I’m feeling stressed is: _______________________________________

The Power of Yet. . .

The power of yet helps you reframe statements to recognize that, with time and effort, you can work through challenges and develop new skills. For example, if you are struggling with your three point shot, you may think: “I can’t make a three.” The power of yet lets you reframe this statement: “I can’t make a three… yet!”

Use the power of yet to talk about a challenging skill: _________________________________________________

What will you do to improve this skill: ______________________________________________________________

Practice O.A.R

O.A.R. is an approach to learning in sports: Observe, Ask, Reflect. When you are struggling with a skill, start by watching someone who can execute that skill to look for techniques you can replicate. If you are still struggling to grasp the skill, ask teammates and coaches for tips. After you try out their suggestions, reflect on what is working and where you may need additional support.. 

What skill am I struggling with: ___________________________________________________________

Who am I going to Observe: _______________________________________________________________

What am I going to Ask: _________________________________________________________________

Reflect: What is working? What isn’t?:_____________________________________________________________

Develop a Mistake Ritual

A mistake ritual is a physical cue that helps you acknowledge a mistake in the heat of competition and move on from it. It’s important to revisit mistakes after the game to learn from them – but we don’t want to have them negatively impact our performance while competing.  Some examples are: brushing off your shoulders, ‘flushing’ the mistake, or wiping your brow with two fingers.

My mistake ritual: ______________________________________________________________________

Executing in Pressure Situations

In high pressure situations, it can be more challenging to execute skills that you do during practices or games when the stakes are low. This is the nature of the positive stress that sports impose on us. It’s ok to be affected by this stress. When you start to feel the pressure of a situation, try the three B’s.

Breathe: take a deep breath through your nose for 6 seconds, then breathe out through your mouth for 8 seconds. This helps slow your heart rate, mind, and regulate the body’s response to stress. 

Bounce: bring yourself back to the game by feeling the ground beneath your feet. Bounce up and down a few times to get re-rooted. 

Break: Clap your hands together to briskly simulate the contact of competition and signal to yourself that you are ready to play. 

What is a time I could have used the three B’s is: ______________________________________________________

How can I recognize that I need to use the three B’s next time: ___________________________________________