Mental Toughness

[G-nob]

Accordingly, "mental toughness" is equally important
as the physical fitness of every badminton player.
Is there any specific badminton drills or execises to
address this?

[jas1121]

Accordingly, "mental toughness" is equally important
as the physical fitness of every badminton player.
Is there any specific badminton drills or execises to
address this?

I think mental toughness cannot be taught, its more like a habit. Like always trying and giving your best no matter what in training. So when you play in your competition, eventhough you exhausted, you will tell yourself, ok, i have been here, and you are able to focus despite being exhausted. Thats what i think.

[stumblingfeet]

It is pretty hard to simulate mentally difficult situations in a game, so much of this quality is developed by playing games. More importantly, from playing challenging, meaningful games.

[DivingBirdie]

gaining competition experience might be a good way of building mental toughness. the key is not to lose heart when you're down

[yy_ling]

try to strive on for someone instead, i read this is a buddhist teaching book :p

[coachgary]

I concur with YY Ling. A sport Psychologist would teach Positive Mental Attitude techniques. Have a memory of something or someone that inspires you. It could be anything that helps you focus on the positives and not negative aspects.

For me its a place, a safe place, where as a child was a refuge. A young Oak tree that I used to climb 30 years ago and it still grows with me to this day.

[Kiwiplayer]

Mental toughness encompasses a number of things, some of which are probably easier to train than others.

If we're talking about having confidence in our ability to win, no matter how far behind, then that's something one can only really get from experience. Afterall, in order to have faith in your ability to win, you really need to have done it a few times.

Similarly, overcoming the fear of losing is also something that probably only comes with time (if at all).

However, one thing that can be trained is the ability to handle pain. Hard physical training not only provides fitness and conditioning, but it also trains the mind to withstand discomfort. If one is used to being pushed right to edge in training, then coping with lungs that feel like they're about to explode during a game becomes easier.

Another aspect that can be worked on is the ability to handle pressure. For example, the introduction of "punishment" type exercises to training can provide (to a limited degree) pressure to perform. Something simple like 10 press-ups or 20 burpees (or whatever they hate the most) for every mistake can work a treat.

Wayne Young

[stumblingfeet]

I concur with YY Ling. A sport Psychologist would teach Positive Mental Attitude techniques. Have a memory of something or someone that inspires you. It could be anything that helps you focus on the positives and not negative aspects.

For me its a place, a safe place, where as a child was a refuge. A young Oak tree that I used to climb 30 years ago and it still grows with me to this day.

I have doubts about the benefits of a sports psychologist. I've read some books by them, and they seem to deal with issues in a general manner (ie performance anxiety, visualization, etc.). I can't say that I've had much insight into how to develop mental toughness using this approach.

A great way to learn mental toughness is to train with tough players or with experienced coaches who have trained players better than you. These people simply shrug off issues that would upset others - so you learn to stop whining with mental issues and simply deal with them.

[Kiwiplayer]

Yes, I'm also a little skeptical of the new age touchy feely type of psychological approach. Maybe I'm just too old?

At the end of the day, everyone is a little different. Some players probably need to be molly coddled somewhat, while others will only progress with a hard, kick in the pants, type of approach. However, I agree with Stumblingfeet that the best way to learn mental toughness is probably just to train hard with tough people and learn not to whinge and complain whenever something isn't quite right.

Wayne Young

[yy_ling]

actually the source of motivation really depends on us, we have different things taht we regard as important