Mental Toughness | Jack Clark

PLAYERS:  Being mentally tough is one of the best skills that you can have.  Being mentally tough allows you to be completely present in the moment and allows you focus on what is most important.

It allows you to be afraid and still play and act with courage.  When you are mentally tough, you know that you aren't perfect and that you will make mistakes.  When you are mentally tough, you will fight through and past the mistakes.  When you are mentally tough, you will learn from the mistakes.

When you are mentally tough, you will try new things.  You listen better and more intently to your coaches because you want to learn and get better.  Then, you try and practice and try again what they taught you.  When you are mentally tough, you don't practice until you can do something - you practice until you don't mess up. 

When you are mentally tough, you find ways to get better everyday.  You find ways to grow and grind and get better when you are tired, when your are bored, and when you don't feel like it.

When you are mentally tough, you will complete every drill and in every practice to get better.  

You will compete with yourself and your teammates.  You won't take it easy on yourself or on your teammates.  You will push yourself and your teammates because when you are mentally tough, you push yourself out of your comfort zone and past your limits because that is how you get better.

When you are mentally tough, you don't make excuses.  You don't cry.  You don't complain.  You don't whine.  You find ways to get the job done despite the adversity and obstacles in front of you.  When it gets harder, you go harder.  You smile with the increase in competition because you know that when it gets harder, it will push you to be better.

Being mentally tough is a skill.  That means it can be learned.  Some are born more mentally tough than others.  Some have been through more adversity than others, so their mental toughness has been sharpened.  But everybody can learn how to be more mentally tough.

There is room for more mental toughness on every team.