We work with athletes and
patients. The key to have results is
self-awareness; we cannot lie to ourselves if we want results. An example of what we should not want from
athletes is lack of self-awareness as in the case of the highest rank official
of the FMTRI which comment highlights lack of self-awareness:
“It is not stupidity to say
that Crisanto Grajales could be in the top six in Tokyo.” His premise is based
on the fact that 65 competitors started the Tokyo race last year and just finished
46, and Grajales run a second faster than Mislowchuk and Stornes (the first
two), a minute behind on the bike; not counting that Mola, Gómez, Luis and others
were not there. And the fact the event’s
page said: price money TBA for competing in that race. Some competitors were there to test the bike
course. That comment gives information
about the lack of self-awareness or perhaps he is just “Trumping.”
Researchers are working on
how to measure self-awareness in athletes.
The constructs are not easy to develop but as any science, it does not
proof anything, it just probes. We have
known the facts empirically for centuries.
Introduction
Mental toughness (MT) is
widely recognised as a fundamental attribute for attaining success in sport.1 Mentally
tougher athletes maintain performance levels during adversity; perceive
pressure as a challenge and a catalyst for prospering; and maintain emotional,
cognitive and behavioural control despite situational stressors.2 Considering
the appeal that these cognitive and behavioural signatures have to athletes, MT
has become a prominent research area in the sport performance literature.3
Scholars' primary interest
in MT is based on the capacity to acquire MT attributes through sport and
non-sport developmental influences and experiences4, as well as
through psychological interventions5. However, determining the MT
dimensions that may be taught and the most effective approaches to develop them
requires resolutions to the current conceptual and operational disparities that
exist. Some researchers contend that MT is a narrow personality trait that is
situationally stable5,6, whereas others suggest MT is state-specific
and may fluctuate depending on the situation7,8. In addition to MT
manifestation distinctions, these conceptualisations differ in the extent to
which MT may be developed. However, in support of the mutual inclusivity of
these perspectives, Gucciardi et al.3 reported that a
combination of intraindividual (i.e. within person) and interindividual (i.e.
between person) differences may be attributed to the variability of MT.
Accordingly, an athlete may display enduring patterns of MT across similar
situations, but varied levels of MT across dissimilar situations.
Although the
multidimensionality of MT has generally been supported9, the type
and quantity of constituents comprising MT remains unclear10. In
addition to dimensional discrepancies between sport types,11 within-sport
MT differences have been found. For instance, Coulter et al.12 reported
that risk-taking is an integral MT component in soccer, whereas Thelwell et al.13 indicated
that MT in a soccer player involved affecting one's opponents. The
characterisation of MT variations are reflected in the range of instruments
that often diverge in the types of MT that are measured. To illustrate,
affective intelligence is included as a subfactor on the Cricket Mental
Toughness Inventory14, but is not contained within the Australian
Football Mental Toughness Inventory15.
Although unequivocally
determining the components that constitute MT is necessary, there are several
components that are repeatedly referred to in the literature.16 These
components include confidence or self-belief; emotional and cognitive control;
accepting, persevering and thriving through challenges; and commitment and
determination.2,17 Accordingly, MT refers to a collection of
personal resources (inherent and developed) associated with athletes' pursuit
of optimal athletic performance levels, irrespective of positive and negative
situational demands.18,19
In the extant literature,
considerable attention has been devoted towards examining the characteristics
associated with MT. Commonly identified correlates of MT include effective
coping, the use of self-talk, relaxation strategies and mental imagery.20-22 Mentally
tougher athletes have greater flow experiences (concentration, autotelism)23,
perceive stressors as less intense24, and utilise performance- and
mastery-approach achievement goals25. Collectively, MT is related to
a number of positive psychological characteristics. However, self-awareness,
also referred to as psychological self-mindedness, is one concept that has
received limited quantitative MT research attention. Self-awareness represents
the capacity to attend to, recognise and examine one's thoughts, physiological sensations,
emotions and behavioural reactions, either as they occur or retrospectively.26,27
Although the
self-awareness process is multifaceted and associated with an array of
corollaries and self-directed attention areas26, common
conceptualisations encompass two primary components: engagement in
self-reflection and the attainment of self-insight28-30.
Self-reflection involves emotional, cognitive and behavioural
self-introspection, whereas self-insight refers to clarifying and obtaining a
deeper understanding of such experiences.29
Even though
self-reflective activities may not automatically result in self-insight31,
self-awareness represents an important process for identifying and replacing
maladaptive responses as well as establishing progress towards achieving
positive psychobehavioural changes28,32.
In sport, awareness of
one's emotions has been linked to superior performance.33 In
particular, maintaining peak performance levels is at least partly dependent on
the ability to recognise negative emotions and cognitions and effectively
control or avoid the detrimental effects of such experiences.34 With
research supporting the emotional and cognitive control of mentally tough
athletes35, along with the understanding that MT is associated with
positive performance outcomes3, self-awareness attributes may be
relevant to athletes' MT.
Recent qualitative
research has posited the relevance of several forms of self-awareness (e.g.
emotional and cognitive) in relation to MT. Bull et al.25, for
instance, qualitatively established thinking
clearly (awareness, focus and control of thoughts) as an essential
component of MT in elite cricket. Slack et al.36 extended this
finding to denote cognitive awareness
of own emotions as indicative of mentally tough English Premier
League football referees. There is also evidence to suggest that self-awareness
promotes or facilitates heightened levels of MT37 - a finding
that supports early heuristic MT perspectives38.
Taken together, these
findings provide preliminary support for the applicability of self-awareness
characteristics to the MT of athletes. However, prior MT studies have not
specified what embodies self-awareness, and, despite recent qualitative
findings, there is a dearth of knowledge about the role of emotional, cognitive
and behavioural self-awareness in relation to MT. Therefore, the purpose of the
current study was to explore the relationships between MT and self-awareness
components (i.e. self-reflection and self-insight) in competitive tennis
players. It was hypothesised that MT and each of its subcomponents would be
significantly predicted by both (1) self-reflection and (2) self-insight.
…The finding that self-insight was the single significant
predictor of global MT suggests the phase is particularly important to
athletes' MT. However, given that attaining insight requires introspection and
evaluation of the self,31 self-reflection is a necessary part of the
self-awareness process. Considering the markedly larger effect size between MT
and self-insight, as compared to self-reflection, mentally tougher athletes
appear to be better at progressing from self-reflective activities to achieve
higher levels of self-insight. With prior studies reporting that self-awareness
promotes the development of MT,37 attaining maximal MT benefits might require athletes to
engage in and proceed beyond mere self-introspection toward generating a
profounder level of psychobehavioural clarity and understanding.
Conclusion
The findings in this study
support the positive association between MT and self-awareness in competitive
tennis players. Most notably, the strongest predictor of MT and its
subcomponents was self-insight. Notwithstanding the necessity of
self-reflection in the process toward obtaining insight, the latter appears to
be particularly important when considering MT and its development among
athletes. Research identifying the contextual demands and situation-based use
of self-awareness among mentally tough athletes is warranted, along with
whether self-reflection and insight may be used to develop MT through
interventions.
We work on education with
the purpose of increasing self-awareness to have better triathletes.
