Athletes Mental Approach More Important Than Ever

In this year of firsts, athletes must deal with additional obstacles such as masks and schedule changes that hinder performance and interrupt team dynamics, impacting the mental side of competition.

Sports are no exception for safety during this unprecedented year. By limiting fans in attendance, requiring masks of players, coaches, and officials, and by encouraging social distancing, schools are doing whatever possible to provide student athletes with the opportunity to compete. The new guidelines force change onto athletes and coaches that make communication between teammates difficult.

“I think the communication part of the game has been the most hard to adapt to because the mask muffles what you say and makes you a lot quieter,” junior Riley Hamilton said. “Mentally, we focus more on what we can change, and we can’t change the rules requiring us to wear masks and social distance.”

“While masks and social distancing are inconvenient, they are recommended by pretty much all public health officials,” psychology teacher Jeff Martin said. “I think we need to respect that, even if it causes a bit of stress.”

The new guidelines enforced by the North Shore conference state that each athlete is allowed two spectators to attend each event. This change especially affects athletes who are used to feeding off the energy of students and parents.

Yet, some athletes may be alright with this change.With the limited spectators some athletes may not feel the nerves that come with a large crowd.

Martin said, “However, there might be some athletes who actually perform better when limited people are watching them.”

Despite the changes, boy’s volleyball head coach and psychology teacher Terry Wick said, “I do see them[players] having fun. The idea of competition is still motivating for them and they love to compete.”

For players, finding other areas of motivation for themselves and for the team is essential. Hamilton said, “Our team has all the motivation we need from the want to win conference and that has motivated us to work as hard as we do in practices and during games.”

“I think the results after this season should be seen as a greater achievement because we have had to play three weeks of the season without our full team due to people being quarantined. We changed our lineups and some players really stepped up to fill the roles missing on the court,” Hamilton said.

In reality, sports are all about mentality. Athletes use thoughts to influence actions and actions to perform during games and practices. For this season’s unique setup, athletes are forced to fixate their goals over the distractions.