A Survey of mental skills training knowledge, opinions, and practices of junior tennis coaches

Abstract

Junior tennis coaches (N = 153) were surveyed to determine their opinions about the importance of mental skills training, the specific mental skills they teach, strategies they use to teach mental skills, and recommendations for making mental skills training more effective. Mental skills thought to be most difficult to teach included reframing pressure, crisis management, self-confidence, and emotional control. Roadblocks to mental skills training included a lack of time, a lack of player interest, difficulty evaluating mental skills training success, and a lack of models or examples of coaches actually teaching mental skills. Coaches also indicated a need for practical mental skills training exercises that could be taught in 10–15 minutes, strategies for better engaging players in mental skills training, and the need for mental skills training videos to use with players. Differences in the coaches' opinions were compared between more and less experienced and sport psychology trained and untrained coaches.