9 Mental Skills of Successful Athletes Assessment

NAME*

AGE*

SPORT*

TODAY'S DATE*

E-mail*

Phone Number*

Area CodePhone Number

DIRECTIONS After reading each of the following statements, think about your own experience. To what extent is the statement true for you? Answer by selecting a number between 0 and 10 in the circles to the right of the statement. A 10 would mean that the statement is 100% true for you. A 9 would be 90% true for you, etc. There are no right or wrong answers. Please answer all of the questions. While answering, consider how you have been training and competing in the last 2-3 weeks.

ATTITUDE (1)*

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1. I believe that attitude is a choice.
2. I choose an attitude that is always positive.
3. I compete in order to become better rather than to beat my opponents.
4. I overreact to my mistakes and have trouble letting go of them..
5. I view myself as a developing athlete and forgive myself if I make mistakes.
6. My value as a person is based entirely on how well I perform in my sport..
7. I participate in my sport because it enriches my life.
8. I enjoy competition.
9. My family pressures me too much to participate in my sport..
10. When I’ve done the best I can, I am proud of myself even if my performance is disappointing.
11. I am comfortable with the balance between the time I spent on my sport and on rest of my life.
12. Winning is the most important part of sport..
13. My sport is my whole life..
14. I put too much time and effort into my sport..
15. I take full responsibility for my performance in competition.
16. Before competition I expect to perform well.
17. I have been called a perfectionist..
18. I worry about winning and losing..
19. I should never lose..
20. Before competition I worry about making mistakes or looking bad..
21. I enjoy practicing.
22. Participating in my sport is fun.
23. Once a competition is over, it’s easy for me to learn from it and start preparing for the next event.

MOTIVATION (2)*

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1. I am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve my full potential as an athlete.
2. I am aware of the rewards and benefits that I expect to achieve through my sport.
3. I still work hard even when I’m not performing well.
4. I still benefit from my sport participation even when I’m not performing well.
5. I am self-motivated. No one has to push me to practice.
6. Too often I feel tired and don’t want to practice..
7. Sometimes I find myself performing extremely well and it seems almost automatic and effortless.
8. In the end, I’m the only person that I have to please.
9. I often lack the motivation to train..
10. I practice and play hard even when I’m tired or not feeling well.
11. During competition I give up when things aren’t going well for me..
12. Performing well is more important to me than awards and recognition from others.
13. My success in sport depends on how hard I work, not on my inborn talent.

GOALS AND COMMITMENT (3)*

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1. I have specific long-term performance goals.
2. I have specific, short-term goals for improving my techniques and skills.
3. I am committed to achieving my goals.
4. I achieve the goals that I set for myself.
5. I have a clear picture in my mind of the athlete that I am trying to become.
6.Before every practice I think of my goals for that practice and review my progress afterwards.
7. Before every competition I think of my goals for that competition and review my progress afterwards.
8. I am committed to my training.

PEOPLE SKILLS (4 )*

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1. I realize that I am part of a larger system that includes my family, friends, teammates, coaches, and others.
2. In order to succeed I need the help and support of these people.
3. I am able to communicate my thoughts and feelings to these people.
4. I am able to listen to these people and learn from them.
5. I get along well with my coaches.
6. I get along well with my family.
7. I never allow opponents to deliberately make me nervous or angry.
8. Some opponents make me nervous because of their reputation..
9. I am able to speak up for myself with my family, teammates, and coaches.
10. I like my coaches
11. I worry too much about what other people are thinking about me..
12. I have people in my life who give me emotional support when things are not going well.
13. I feel too much pressure from other people to perform well..
14. My coaches like me.
15. I am able to accept criticism and learn from it.
16. I need feedback and instruction from my coaches in order to improve.

SELF-TALK (5)*

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1. When things are not going well, I maintain my confidence with positive self- talk.
2. I use self-talk to control my emotions.
3. When I’m not performing well, I “beat up on myself” (or say bad things to myself)..
4. I use self-talk to keep focused during competition.
5. When I’m not performing well, I stay calm and focused by talking to myself the way I would talk to my own best friend.
6. I use self-talk to remind myself how to improve or execute a technique.

MENTAL IMAGERY (6)*

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1. I mentally practice skills by imagining myself doing them correctly.
2. I prepare for competition by imagining myself performing well.
3. I imagine myself making mistakes or doing things wrong..
4. My imagination is so vivid that it almost seems like the real thing.
5. In competition I picture things in my mind just before doing them.
6. When I make a mistake, later on I imagine myself doing it correctly.

ANXIETY (7)*

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1. I understand that nervousness is part of sport and should be expected.
2. Some nervousness can help me perform well.
3. I know how to reduce nervousness when it becomes too strong without losing my intensity.
4. I am too nervous before competition..
5. I am too nervous during competition..
6. During competition I get nervous when things are not going well..
7. My muscles become too tight during competition..
8. I choke under pressure..
9. I get so nervous that my stomach begins to act up, I need to pee, or I get diarrhea..
10. At the start of competition, my energy level is just right, not too pumped up or down.
11. I stay energized throughout the competition.

DEALING WITH EMOTIONS (8)*

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1. I understand that sports are emotional and can bring out joy, excitement, anger, and disappointment.
2. I am able to use my emotions to improve performance.
3. I have difficulty in controlling my anger during competition..
4. My emotions get control of me and interfere with good performance..
5. I get overly upset when things don’t go the way they’re supposed to..
6. I enjoy the emotions that I experience during competition.

CONCENTRATION (9)*

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1. I know what I should be paying attention to each moment while I’m competing.
2. I am able to maintain focus and resist distractions during competition.
3. In competition I am able to regain my focus quickly when I lose my concentration.
4. While competing I worry too much about winning and losing..
5. In competition I focus on what’s happening right now, not what just happened a few moments ago.
6. During competition I have trouble staying focused because of problems in my personal life.
7. After I make a few mistakes I lose my focus..
8. In competition I get distracted by things or people in my surroundings..
9. I am able to change my focus quickly when the situation around me changes.
10. My mind wanders away from what I should be paying attentions to..
11. I get distracted during competition by my own thoughts..
12. While competing I pay too much attention to the score..
13. Even when I’m tired, I maintain my focus.
14. While competing I am able to focus on what’s important and ignore all distractions.

TRUEFALSE