In a sport measured by distance and time, it seems unlikely that one of the biggest challenges athletes would face is one that is difficult to calculate — one that is more or less invisible, at least to spectators.
However, for most athletes, the mental aspect of sports makes up more than half of their performance and can be a greater climb than any physical hill.
When asked about the link between mental health and performance on the field, Braden Brown, BYU's associate athletic director over mental health said, “I think it’s impossible to overlook, because there’s such a huge connection between biological functioning, mental health functioning, even kind of spiritual development. And if any of those things are out of whack, it’s going to affect areas in the other realms.”
While some of the realms are more obvious places to train in athletics, the mental health aspect can often get overlooked. However, at BYU there are multiple people and resources, like Brown, to help athletes combat this challenge.
With the combination of coaches who help with the physical demands of athletics and the various sports psychology staff available to athletes, there is a lot of effort put in to helping these students succeed.
“It’s so easy to get siloed and narrow focused on just the performance aspect, but if we’re only looking at the performance aspect and overlooking individual mental health, relationship challenges, those sorts of things, then we’re missing a huge opportunity to help people thrive,” Brown said.
“Your coach is going to do everything physically to have you ready, but ultimately, in order to capitalize on those things you have to be mentally in the right headspace, and so that’s why I feel like such a big percentage of racing is mental,” said women’s cross-country athlete Jenna Hutchins.
Athletes are fully aware of their capabilities; however, they can sometimes limit themselves with mental barriers. This is why it is so necessary, especially on the collegiate level, to dedicate specific time to training the mental aspect of performance.
“I think that the mental work I’ve done is also what has made me the runner I am at BYU now. I’d say almost 50% of what my training is, is for my mind,” said fellow racer Taylor Rohatinsky. “I think that if you try to act like it’s not a piece of the puzzle and try to neglect the mental side of it, it only makes it that much harder to overcome.”
These athletes are aware of the importance of strengthening their mental stamina and are resilient enough to put in the work necessary to get to a place where their physical performance is benefited by their thoughts, not hindered.
When talking about sports psychologists, Rohatinsky said, “I think it’s the most useful resource to help learn about the brain and understand what you repeatedly tell yourself and practice is what your brain will remember and make habits of.”
“In order to get better in any aspect of sports, I feel like you always have to be finding new ways to get better, and I feel like the mental part is something that can make such a big difference and can make you really see the physical benefits of that as well,” said Hutchins.
While the mental aspect of performance might seem overwhelming, from experience, these athletes have been able to see the difference that it makes for them. The advice that they give for any athletes struggling in this area is to not be afraid to reach out for help and to face it head on.
However, their message extends beyond the track or playing field: mental health is not a weakness to overcome but a skill to develop. For athletes — and anyone chasing improvement — learning to train the mind may be the most important victory of all.