I’ve been doing a lot of research lately on mental toughness while I put together a coaching program that I’ll be sharing soon.

And as I do my lit review, I keep coming across articles and research that I’d love to share with folks that follow my blog.

There were two articles recently that really stuck with me, and I would love to see how others agree or disagree with both the research and my interpretation of it.

First, there is an article that just came out this month titled How Coaches Build Mental Toughness. The second is an article on research referenced in the first article. This research looked to define mental toughness in general by talking to coaches, athletes, and some parents.

What was so interesting about the first article was the finding that 82% of coaches rated mental toughness as the most important psychological attribute in determining athletic success, but sadly, only 9% believed they were successful in developing mental toughness in their athletes. And the athletes we’re talking about were high school-aged athletes.

Let’s think about that for a minute. 82% believe that mental toughness is critical for a player's success, but only 9% feel they have the ability, experience, or time to teach these toughness skills to their players. This may not be true for every sport; it might not even be true for hockey, but let’s face it, that’s a LOW percentage. Why is this?

Talking to coaching friends of mine and doing my own research, everyone I talk to shares a list of common reasons why it’s so difficult to coach mental toughness in their players.

These reasons are:

1: As much as everyone talks about how important mental toughness is, it’s really under-appreciated until there is a problem

2: There aren’t a lot of resources to learn this stuff (unless you really dig for it and even then it’s not hockey-related)

3: There are no systematic programs to use or follow (we’d all have to make our own systems and who has the time or experience to do that?)

4: It’s not a priority for the league or organization overall and therefore there isn’t a lot of support to find a way to add this type of coaching

5: There just isn’t enough time and money to include this kind of coaching for the team.

Hearing these reasons helps me understand why it’s so tough to teach mental toughness, but at the same time, going back to the research finding that 82% feel mental toughness is critically important, how do you NOT figure out a way to incorporate it into your program?

I’m sure it's not just me that is floored by these statistics, but think about it. You have a skill that is critical to a player's continued success, but you have no system to teach it!

Watching the National Junior Tournament this past month, you've seen players that are not only incredibly skilled on the ice but are mentally tough too. Where did THEY learn mental toughness? When did they learn mental toughness? Were they just naturally mentally tough, and that’s why they’re on the National team, OR were they taught mental toughness skills and strategies WHILE they were becoming the best juniors for their country?

We know the answer. The answer is that they learned mental toughness skills as part of their advanced training and development as part of the National Team. But what about the rest of us?

One out of a hundred is going to learn how to become mentally tough on their own.

The rest will struggle with it their entire lives.

Some will keep trying and trying and eventually find some version of toughness they can use, but it will be way below what they are truly capable of.

Some will try for a while and then just give up.

Others will let the game chew them up and spit them out.

Given these challenges, it's crucial for teams and players to integrate mental toughness training into their programs and emphasize its importance just as much as physical training.

The tide is slowly turning, with more players and teams acknowledging the value of the mental game, but there's still a long way to go.