The relevance of integrated Mental Training during the off sport season: the example of a football player
Posted by MindUP News on 13/07/2022

Stefano Vaghi, professional footballer of Lega Pro, with a great past in the Inter youth team and in the youth teams of the Italian national team, came to carry out the Integrated Mental Training session. Stefano is preparing great for next season and has understood that training mental, emotional and psycho-physical skills is as important as training from a technical, tactical and athletic point of view. It is now established (and also intuitable in the collective imagination) that if a sportsman neglects physical-athletic training for two months and then starts competitive activity again, he will be in enormous difficulty. On the contrary: if in these two hypothetical months of competitive stoppage he will carry out a maintenance program, at the start of the championship season he will have maintained a good state of form. The same principle, even if culturally not always yet conceived, is valid and fundamental for maintaining mental performance, which we know to be inextricably interconnected with physical, technical and tactical performance for a professional of excellence.

There are psychological aspects of the athlete which, through the Enhancement Psychology, are strengthened and which, once the results are achieved, do not need maintenance but will be totally autonomous in the sportsman such as: Consistency (the Fundamental Functioning a self-esteem and belief in ourselves), Determination and Tenacity or the management of negative emotions. Other aspects, on the other hand, such as concentration, muscle tension, mental endurance or the ability to flow (ie the ability to generate an optimal psycho-physical state during performance) are more "elastic" and depend a lot on the moment and circumstances in question. where the athlete is: they therefore need targeted and constant training.

Much confusion on these aspects, in our opinion, is due to the overlap and unclearness that still exists between Mental Training and Coaching. We will soon publish an article to clearly define the difference between these two approaches.