Mental Training on LC’s Girls Varsity Soccer Team: An Exploration

by Abby Chuang

LC’s Girls’ Varsity Soccer team has introduced a new player this year: sports psychology. What is it? Sports psychology is defined by the Gale Encyclopedia as “A developing subfield of psychology concerned with applying psychological theories and research to sports and other recreational activities.” That’s a mouthful. In other words, it’s applying what we already know about our minds concerning performance—anxiety, stress, perfectionism, etc.—to sports performance. For Varsity Girls’ soccer, it’s through the Extra Mile Institute (EMI), a mental performance program that Spokane’s very own Gonzaga Men’s Basketball team has used.

So, how does it work? EMI isn’t as intense as it may sound. The team sets aside a day once a week for film review and “Step Back Sessions” —15-minute conversations led by assistant coach Catilyn Jacobs, a trained facilitator of the EMI sessions. 

“Each week I go through and decide what lesson fits best with where we are at that week,” Coach Catilyn explains. The lessons in question cover a variety of areas for mental growth: from handling failure to channeling focus. “We have noticed that many of our athletes struggle with positive self-talk and having a short memory when mistakes are made.” Things such as negative self-talk and lingering on mistakes have the potential to worsen an athlete’s performance, creating a vicious cycle of poor thoughts and poor results.

The EMI training seeks to remedy that. “Talking through the mental part of the game has truly helped the team,” says Senior Captain Gwenyth Bafus. “It shows that your teammates are feeling the same as you.”

 This is Bafus’s 4th year playing for Varsity, where she plays winger, and she highlights her mental growth throughout her years. “My mental game is strong,” Bafus asserts “With my change in roles throughout the years from a scared freshman to a senior captain, I made sure that it was strong.” 

Studies linking mental training to performance back up the importance of an athlete having a strong mental space. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, or REBT, is the practice of identifying and challenging irrational beliefs to elicit productive emotional and behavioral responses. Mindfulness-based Intervention, or MBI, is training aiming to raise awareness and connection to one’s surroundings- the goal is not to change irrational thoughts, like REBT, but to accept them as they come.

In a 2023 study conducted by Tóth, Renátó, et al., the effectiveness of REBT and MBI was measured in junior hockey players. The REBT consisted of weekly hour-long group sessions and homework assignments for 8 weeks. MBI also experienced the same frequency, and there was a control group who did not receive any intervention. A series of skills were tested: response inhibition, switching function, and cognitive flexibility—along with questionnaires surrounding competitive anxiety, irrational beliefs, and perfectionism. 

The results? Both the REBT and MBI groups had a higher rate of improvement for information processing than the control group. “Based on these findings, it is concluded that restructuring irrational beliefs into rational beliefs and the acquisition of mindfulness skills (e.g., attentional control, acceptance, self-compassion) contribute to the athletes' ability to absorb stimuli more quickly.” (Tóth, Renátó, et al.) The groups who had some type of mental intervention performed better than the groups who did not. 

The study discusses further advantages of REBT and MBI. Group sessions for REBT encourage a supportive community, something similar to what Bafus says about EMI training: “I have found that these sessions have created a bond between the girls and coaches that have made us successful throughout this season.” In team sports, trust is essential. Having that trust is just one of the many strengths Bafus believes her team has. 

MBI increases “resilience and willingness to persist” (Tóth, Renátó, et al.), essential in a competitive environment to continue hard work and to avoid burnout—another conclusion similar to Bafus’s opinion on the assistance of EMI: “Being able to take a moment to acknowledge the hard work we are doing has helped us work without burnout, especially with the postseason.”

But it’s clear that this mental training can be taken beyond the scope of sports. “These skills translate to everything in life,” Coach Caitlyn affirms, “While conversations may look different in various settings, the tools learned go far beyond the field or classroom.” By learning and practicing mental preparation in a competitive, athletic setting, we are setting up athletes for success with tools to handle stress. 

Bafus seems to have her mental preparation down. “Hype music always, my Go To's are Souija Boy and Gasolina obviously!”, followed with self-talk to “keep me focused throughout the game.” The whole team also uses wrist tape to write phrases—words like ‘fight’ or ‘focus’ allow for a way to reset when things go sideways. When emotions are high and stress just as much so, it's important to be able to fall back on reliable, healthy techniques to manage the situation.

“I strongly encourage every team to incorporate some sort of mental health training into their team,” Bafus concluded. 

Sources:

Tóth, Renátó, et al. "The effectiveness of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on psychological, physiological and executive functions as a proxy for sports performance." BMC Psychology, vol. 11, no. 1, 16 Dec. 2023, p. NA. Gale Health and Wellness, dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01486-8. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.

Gwenyth Bafus (Senior, Girls’ Varsity Soccer Captain) in discussion over email with the Author, October 2024. 

Catilyn Jacobs (Girls’ Varsity Soccer assistant coach) in discussion over email with the Author, October 2024.

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Edited by Marton Mezei