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Are you born tough? Or is mental toughness something that can be developed over time?
Research has shown that adversity created through manipulating training environments can develop mental toughness in athletes.
But just creating a difficult training environment is not enough – coaches have an important role to play as well.
Besides creating pressure situations where athletes have opportunities to experience mental growth, coaches also need to communicate the value of hard work and accountability for athletes to be able to develop mental toughness.
Here’s the issue: There is little evidence showing exactly how to use adversity as a tool for developing mental toughness.
This leaves a lot of room for misuse (i.e. overuse) from coaches and athletes, resulting in potentially dangerous or undesirable outcomes instead of the development of mental toughness.
The Study: JRob Intensive Wrestling Camp
A team of researchers wanted to understand the psychological changes of wrestlers who took part in an intensive wrestling camp (read the full study: Driska, Gould, Pierce, & Cowburn, 2017).
The J Robinson Intensive Wrestling Camp for adolescents 13-18 years old has been running in the united states every summer since 1978.
J Robinson, a highly respected and accomplished wrestler in his own regard, has created this wrestling camp based on the U.S. Army Ranger training model, as well as his own experiences competing and coaching.
The camp promotes that the athletes will develop mental strength through participation, rather than the physical strength, conditioning, or wrestling skills that are typically emphasized at most popular wrestling camps.
The study included 70 participants from the 14-day intensive camp.
Three questionnaires were administered to the 70 participants at the beginning of the camp, at the end of the camp, and 9 months following the end of the camp. The questionnaires were about participants’ sport-confidence, hope, and athletic coping skills.
From this group of 70 participants, 8 individuals were purposefully selected for interviews. These interviews took place during the camp, one week following the end of the camp, and 9 months following the end of the camp.
The Study’s Findings
1. Observations
The first part of the results consists of the researchers’ observations. The camp’s 88 hours of physical training sessions as well as 13 hours of mental attitude talks over 14 days confirmed the camp organizers’ claims of the intense nature of the camp.
The camp promoted mental skills such as goal-setting, visualization, and relaxation, and required athletes to engage in daily reflective journaling.
Camp organizers created difficult situations for athletes but reminded them that the skills they had developed could help them find success in those moments of adversity.
Overall, the camp organizers created difficult environments for athletes but also provided and reinforced the mental skills needed to be successful in those situations.
2. Questionnaires (Quantitative)
Findings examined 9 dependent variables, with 7 of the 9 variables showing maintained increases across time points.
These 7 variables are:
- Achievement Motivation & Confidence
- Concentration
- Coping with Adversity
- Goal Setting
- Peaking under Pressure
- State Hope
- Trait Sport Confidence
The two variables that did not show increases are Coachability and Freedom from Worry.
Overall, these findings indicate that the camp did have an effect on the mental skills and dispositions of the participants. This supports the idea that mental toughness, and related mental skills, can be developed.
3. Interviews (Qualitative)
Analysis of the transcripts of the interviews yielded five main themes. These themes describe the psychological developments that participants experienced because of the camp.
These 5 themes are:
- Enhanced Confidence
- Work Ethic
- Personal Empowerment
- Enhanced Thought Processes
- Interpersonal Skills
Why Is This Important?
The quantitative results showed that participants experienced changes to their dispositions (inherent qualities of mind and character), attitudes, and mental skills.
The qualitative results confirmed the quantitative results and showed that participants developed a wider range of psychological attributes and skills from the camp than previously anticipated.
What’s even more interesting is that the authors state that:
“…the qualitative results revealed the attributes developed through the camp were not isolated attitudinal changes, but rather a mutually-reinforcing set of skills and attributes that generalized across situations.”
Here’s the main takeaway for athletes and coaches:
The creation of a specific training environment, along with careful coaching and guidance, can develop desirable psychological skills and attributes that may transfer across different situations as well as other life contexts.
Most people are not born mentally tough. But at that, building mental toughness doesn’t just come from hard work, suffering, and mindless persistence.
Sure, you might become a bit less soft as you force yourself through pain, telling yourself adamantly that this is what will make you into a hardened warrior.
Or you can look at the research:
A carefully crafted environment, with leaders who are trained to optimize the development of athletes (both physically and psychologically), is a healthy, sustainable, efficient formula for developing mental toughness.
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