In competitive and high-performance sport, athletes spend countless hours on skill development, strength, conditioning, and recovery. Yet one area consistently separates athletes who rise from those who stall: their psychological development or mental game.

A major systematic review by Dohme et al. (2019) analyzed studies across sport and revealed something powerful:

Athletes don’t just succeed because they are skilled. They succeed because they are psychologically skilled.

This is a critical insight for parents. Mental performance isn’t an add-on. It’s not something athletes seek out only when something is “wrong.” It’s a foundational part of long-term development, just like technical skills, technique, strength training, or nutrition.

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How much time and financial resources do you put into your athlete’s technical and physical game versus their mental game?

As Michael Jordan famously said:

Intelligence isn’t just knowing the playbook. It’s managing emotions, recovering from mistakes, staying confident under pressure, making decisions under stress, and maintaining balance outside of sport.

1. It Builds Trainable Psychological Skills

The research highlights skills that athletes can learn and use immediately, such as:

• Goal setting
• Imagery
• Self-talk
• Realistic self-evaluation
• Relaxation and emotional regulation
• Seeking social support
• Maintaining balance outside of sport

These are not “soft skills.” They are performance tools that keep athletes composed, focused, confident, and adaptable in high-pressure moments.

2. It Shapes Long-Term Psychological Characteristics

With repeated practice, these skills develop deeper, more stable traits:

• Confidence
• Resilience
• Emotional control
• Motivation
• Independence
• Interpersonal effectiveness

These characteristics are what allow athletes to:

• Handle adversity
• Bounce back from setbacks
• Stay committed through ups and downs
• Navigate competitive environments
• Thrive through the inevitable challenges of sport

3. It Protects Mental Health and Wellbeing

Balance beyond sport matters. Mental performance coaching helps athletes:

• Build identity outside of their sport
• Manage stress and expectations
• Avoid burnout
• Stay grounded and emotionally well

Strong mental skills support both performance and mental health.

4. It Strengthens Parent Athlete – Coach Alignment

When parents understand the psychological skills their athlete is developing, they’re better able to reinforce:

• Healthy communication
• Resilience instead of rescuing
• Process-focused language
• Confidence and autonomy

Mental performance coaching gives families a shared framework to support the athlete, not just on game day, but every day.

What This Means for You as a Parent

It means your athlete will benefit tremendously from a structured mental performance program, not just when they’re struggling, but proactively. Every athlete needs a performance plan. Just like you would have for a business, a wedding, or building a house a performance plan is as essential as the equipment they use to compete.

Every high-performance athlete eventually learns that the mental game becomes the separator.

And parents play a major role in supporting that journey.

Here’s how:

Normalize Getting Mental Coaching

Treat it like strength training or skill sessions. Mental work is training, not therapy, not punishment, and not a sign something is wrong.

Say things like:
​“Working on your mental game is part of being a high-performance athlete.”​
​“This is about getting stronger, not fixing a problem.”

Reinforce Skills at Home

Ask reflection-based questions:

• “What was one thing you did well today?”
• “What challenge helped you grow?”
• “How did you reset after a mistake?”

This mirrors the skills they’re building.

Protect Their Balance and Identity

Encourage:

• Downtime
• Friendships
• Hobbies
• School engagement
• Recovery

Athletes with broader identities are more resilient and more motivated.

Support Process Over Outcome

Praise:

• Effort
• Focus
• Communication
• Resilience
• Improvement

Avoid attaching worth to goals, stats, or playing time.

Stay Involved, But Not Entangled

Be interested without being controlling. Support without steering. Encourage without adding pressure.

Mental performance coaching works best when parents help create psychologically safe homes where athletes feel understood, supported, and seen as more than their results.

Parent Action Step of the Week

Have a 5-minute conversation with your athlete using this prompt:

Listen more than you speak. Show curiosity, not correction. Let them lead the conversation.

This alone builds trust and autonomy, two pillars of athlete wellbeing.

Suggested Resource of the Week

Fortitude 365 Foundations & Fundamentals of Mental Performance Program

This program teaches athletes the essential mental skills identified in the research:

• Confidence
• Resilience
• Emotional control
• Focus
• Imagery
• Self-talk
• Goal setting
• Performance routines

It provides the exact structure athletes need to develop the psychological characteristics that support long-term performance, mental health, and wellbeing.

Final Thought

Mental performance coaching isn’t about avoiding problems. It’s about building strong, adaptable, confident young people who can handle the demands of competitive sport and the challenges of life.

When parents partner with coaches to invest in the mental game, athletes don’t just perform better, they thrive.

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